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Boiled Black Bass with Cream Gravy
After washing the bass well sew it up in a closely fitted piece of cheesecloth. Place in a pot with enough water to cover it, add a little salt, a gill of vinegar, an onion, 8 whole peppers, and a blade of mace. Bring slowly to a boil, and then boil steadily, allowing twelve minutes to each pound of fish. When done remove the cloth, turn the fish on to a hot platter. Garnish with slices of lemon, and serve with the following cream gravy:
A tablespoonful each of butter and flour cooked until they blend, then a cupful of the strained boiled bass water stirred in, until it all becomes smooth and thick. Season to taste with celery salt and pepper, and stir in a gill of cream. As soon as it becomes very hot, remove from the fire.
A plain court-bouillon poach with a velouté made from the cooking liquid. Two things need translating: the measurements and the word "boil."
- Never actually boil itA rolling boil tears the flesh apart and squeezes out moisture. Bring the liquid up slowly, then hold it at a bare shiver — the surface trembling, no breaking bubbles.
- Twelve minutes a pound is too longThat rule assumes a whole fish of some size and a slack fire. Judge by thickness instead: roughly 8–10 minutes per inch at the thickest point, or until the flesh at the backbone is just opaque and slips from the bone. A 3 lb bass is usually done in 20–25 minutes, not 36.
- A gillHalf a cup, 4 fluid ounces. It appears twice here — half a cup of vinegar in the poaching water, half a cup of cream finished into the gravy.
- The cheeseclothSew or simply tie the fish in a doubled sheet with long tails at each end; the tails are your handles for lifting it out whole. Without it a poached fish is easily broken up in the lifting.
- Blade of maceA whole flake of the lacy aril around a nutmeg, still sold whole in spice shops. About a quarter teaspoon of ground mace substitutes, though it will cloud the liquid slightly and can't be fished out.
- The gravyCook butter and flour together two or three minutes without colouring, then add the strained hot poaching liquid gradually and whisk smooth. Add the cream at the end and take it off the heat as soon as it steams — held at a boil the sauce thins and can break.
- Strain, and taste it firstThe poaching liquid carries the vinegar, salt and peppercorns. Strain through a fine sieve and taste before you add any further salt to the sauce, since celery salt is doing seasoning work as well.
- YieldA 3 lb whole bass serves four; allow about 3/4 lb of whole fish per person. The gravy quantity given makes roughly a cup and a half, enough for that size.