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Fried White Fish, Etc
Bass, blue fish, porgies, flounders, weakfish and herring are all fried as follows:
Scale and wash the fish, trim off the fins, take out the gills and intestines. Wash again and dry immediately, then dredge with salt, pepper and flour. Put four tablespoonfuls of lard or dripping in a large frying pan, when hot put the fish into it. Brown on one side, then turn and brown on the other. When done take out carefully, put on a hot dish, garnish with water cress and lemon, and serve.
A whole-fish pan fry that works with any of the listed species, plus most small round or flat fish sold today. The recipe assumes fish scaled and gutted at home; a fishmonger will do both, but the drying step is still yours.
- Dry the fish, then flour itThis is the hinge. A wet skin steams instead of browning and pulls the flour off into the fat. Blot the fish inside and out with paper towel, season, and flour it just before it goes into the pan.
- Four tablespoonfuls of lardThat is about a quarter cup, enough for a shallow fry rather than a deep one. Lard, bacon dripping or clarified butter all behave as intended; a neutral oil with a high smoke point works equally well. Whole butter will burn before the fish is through.
- Pan heatThe fat should shimmer and a pinch of flour should sizzle immediately. Medium-high on a modern burner, cast iron for preference. Fish laid into lukewarm fat sticks and tears when turned.
- Size and timingThe original gives none. Reckon roughly 3-4 minutes a side for a fish under a pound, longer for anything thicker than about an inch and a half. Cooked through means 145F at the spine, or flesh that lifts cleanly from the bone.
- TurningTurn once, with a wide fish slice, and only when the crust releases from the pan of its own accord. Fried whole fish falls apart under repeated fussing.
- The speciesPorgy (scup) and weakfish are still sold, mostly on the Atlantic coast; blue fish is oily and strongly flavoured, best very fresh. The recipe tells you to scale everything on the list, though small flatfish like flounder are today more often skinned than scaled. Herring is fine but bony.
- YieldOne small fish of 3/4 to 1 lb per person, or a larger fish of 2 lb between two. Don't crowd the pan — fry in batches and hold the finished fish in a low oven.
- GarnishWatercress and lemon are not decoration only; the pepperiness and acid cut fried fat. Both are still the right answer.
Frying whole fish in a shallow pan of rendered fat is about as old as the frying pan, and this entry is really a template rather than a recipe: one method, six fish, no measurements to speak of. The fish named here were Atlantic market fish of modest price rather than luxuries.