Beauregard Cod
Boil a pound of cod and set it aside to get cold. Flake with a silver fork into small pieces. Heat a pint of fresh milk in a double boiler, thicken it with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed into 1 of butter. Stir in the fish, season to taste, and cook five minutes. Turn out in a dish containing squares of buttered toast. Have 4 hard-boiled eggs ready, with the yolks powdered and the whites cut into rings. Sprinkle the powdered yolks over the fish and lay the rings around the edge of the platter.
A plain cream sauce built on cold poached cod, dressed up with the sieved-egg garnish that gives the dish its name. The one thing worth adjusting is the thickening.
- The flour is too littleA teaspoon of flour rubbed into a teaspoon of butter will barely thicken a pint (2 cups) of milk — you will get flavoured milk rather than a sauce. Allow at least 2 tablespoons each of butter and flour per pint for a light sauce, and 3 to 4 if you want it to coat the fish, cooking the two together a minute before the milk goes in.
- Cook the cod gently"Boil" here means poach. A pound of cod dropped into hard-boiling water will shred and toughen; hold the water just below a simmer and give it 8-10 minutes, until it flakes. Cooling it firms the flakes so they survive stirring.
- Why a silver forkOrdinary steel and iron cutlery of the period could leave a metallic taste on wet fish and darken it. Stainless steel makes this moot; any fork will do.
- Five minutes is the limitThe fish is already cooked. Fold it in, warm it through for the stated five minutes and no longer, or the flakes break down into a paste.
- The eggsHard-boil and cool in cold water. For rings, leave the whites whole and slice each egg crosswise, then lift the yolk out of the centre of each slice; push the yolks through a fine sieve for the "powdered" effect, as grating or mashing gives a coarser, oilier crumb.
- Toast underneathButter the toast and cut it into squares just before serving. Laid in the dish early it goes to sponge under the sauce.
- SeasoningThe recipe leaves it entirely open. Salt, white pepper and a grating of nutmeg are the period-appropriate choices; a little cayenne or lemon juice lifts it considerably.
- YieldA pound of fish with a pint of sauce serves four as a lunch or supper dish, three if it is the only substantial course.