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WHITING (a I'ltalienne)
Having cleaned the whiting, lay them on a silver or fireproof dish with a small piece of butter, two shallots, and some parsley minced very fine; put them to cook in a moderate oven. While they are cooking, pour over them a glass of white wine and one of stock. When nearly ready, lift them carefully into a saucepan so as not to break them. Add to the sauce a spoonful of strong stock, a piece of butter, a few drops of essence of anchovy, and the juice of a lemon. Replace the whiting in the dish with the sauce, and serve.
A quick oven-braise for a delicate fish, finished with a reduced pan sauce. The whole thing lives or dies on not overcooking the whiting, which is thin, lean and done in minutes.
- The hinge: cooking timeWhiting is a soft, lean fish that goes cottony fast. Whole fish of 8-10 oz need roughly 12-15 minutes; fillets 6-8. Pull them when the flesh at the backbone has just turned opaque, since they carry on cooking in the hot sauce.
- "A moderate oven"350F/175C. The dish is a shallow braise rather than a roast, so the liquid should barely tremble around the fish, not boil.
- "A glass" of wine and of stockVictorian recipes usually mean a wineglassful, most often reckoned at about 2 fl oz, though some books clearly intend a larger glass. The quantity is genuinely loose here; 1/2 cup each of wine and stock suits four small fish and reduces to about the right amount of sauce.
- Silver or fireproof dishA metal gratin dish or an enamelled shallow pan does the job. The point is a vessel that can go from oven to table, and that conducts heat well enough to reduce the liquid a little as the fish cooks.
- Essence of anchovyA Victorian bottled seasoning, thinner than modern anchovy paste. Use a scant 1/4 teaspoon of anchovy paste mashed smooth, or a few drops of colatura, and taste before adding more, as it also brings the salt.
- Finishing the sauceOnce the fish is lifted out, reduce the pan liquid briefly, then take it off the heat before whisking in the cold butter so it emulsifies rather than splits. The lemon goes in last, off the heat.
- Fish and substitutesEuropean whiting (Merlangius merlangus) is small and sweet; American "whiting" is usually hake and works equally well. Failing either, use small haddock, pollock or lemon sole fillets and shorten the time accordingly.
- YieldThe recipe names no quantities. Reckon one whole fish per person: two or three small whiting will serve two or three as a main course with potatoes, or the same number as a light first course.
Whiting was one of the cheapest and most abundant fish on the British market in the nineteenth century, landed in quantity in the North Sea and sold small, fresh and unfashionable, which is why a household compendium like Cassell's carries so many ways of dressing it, from plain frying to the curled whiting en colère with its tail through its mouth. The dressing here, à l'italienne, refers to the classic sauce of finely chopped shallot and parsley moistened with white wine and stock; in Escoffier's codification an italienne is built on duxelles and herbs, and the name is generally traced to that family of chopped-herb sauces rather than to any specific Italian dish. The finishing touches - anchovy essence and lemon, butter whisked in at the end - are thoroughly English, and mark the period's habit of pushing a savoury, slightly sharp note into anything mild and white.