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Bisque of Halibut
Boil a pound of fresh halibut in 2 waters. Free from all pieces of skin and bones. Then mince it fine. Stir the fish into a quart of white stock and season with salt, pepper, and a spoonful of minced parsley. Put 2 tablespoonfuls of butter and 1 of flour into a saucepan. Cook until they become thoroughly blended, then add a cupful of milk, and stir until the milk thickens. Turn the thickened milk into the pot with the fish and stock. Let it all boil up once, and then pour out into the tureen. It is well to add half a cupful of powdered cracker crumbs just before the fish stock is mixed with the milk. Cod can be instituted for halibut if desired.
A late-Victorian cream soup that leans on a roux and pounded crackers rather than a purée. It comes together in about half an hour and serves four to six as a first course.
- "Boil in 2 waters"This means poaching the fish briefly, discarding that water, then covering with fresh water and poaching again; the reason is not given, though the habit is usually explained as drawing off strong flavour. One gentle poach of 8-10 minutes in salted water is enough for modern halibut; overcooking is the only real risk, since the fish is minced afterwards anyway.
- White stockIn this period white stock means a pale unbrowned broth of veal or chicken bones with aromatics and no tomato or colouring. A light chicken stock is the closest ready substitute; fish stock makes the soup more assertive than intended.
- The roux is butter-heavyTwo tablespoons butter to one of flour leaves more fat than the flour can carry, so the finished soup may show a little free butter on the surface. Equal parts, about a tablespoon and a half each, gives a smoother body.
- Cracker crumbs"Powdered cracker crumbs" are plain soda or water crackers ground to flour in a mortar or food processor, a thickener that appears often in American fish soups of the period. They swell as they sit, so add the half cup at the point indicated and judge the consistency before serving; the soup thickens noticeably off the heat.
- Boil up once, no moreThe single brief boil at the end is the hinge. Once milk and minced fish are in the pot, sustained boiling curdles the dairy and turns the flaked fish stringy and grainy. Bring it just to the point of movement and take it off.
- Cod as a substituteAny firm white flaking fish works — cod, haddock, pollock. Avoid oily fish, which fights the delicate white-stock base.
- Seasoning"A spoonful" of parsley is most likely a tablespoon, though the recipe does not specify. Salt at the end rather than the beginning: the stock and crackers may already carry salt of their own.
- TureenSoup went to the table in a covered tureen and was ladled there. If serving from the pot, warm the bowls, as this soup loses heat quickly once thickened.