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Fish Soup
1 lb. haddock or flounder Some fish bones or skin 2 stalks celery 2 heaping tablespoonfuls (2 ozs.) flour ½ pint (1 cup) milk I bay leaf I large onion 2 quarts (8 cups) water or stock I heaping tablespoonful (I oz.) butter 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley Salt and pepper to taste Skin and fillet the fish. Put the fish bones, skin, and any other fish trimmings into an earthenware pot with the stock or water and the salt; bring to the boil and skim well, add the bay leaf, the onion, and celery cut into small pieces; simmer for one and a half hours; then strain. Melt the butter in the pan, add the flour, stir till smooth, then add the milk; allow this to boil for four minutes, add the soup, the parsley, and the fish cut into small pieces; season nicely, simmer for fifteen minutes, and serve hot.
A straightforward fish velouté built on a bone stock. Two things in the original need adjusting: the stock simmers far longer than fish bones tolerate, and the fillets are cooked longer than they need.
- The milk quantity is contradictoryThe original reads "1½ pint (1 cup) milk," but a US half pint is one cup, so "½ pint" is almost certainly meant. One cup is the right proportion against 2 oz flour and 8 cups of stock; a pint and a half would swamp it.
- Fish stock: 30 minutes, not 90Fish frames give up their gelatin and flavour within half an hour. Past that they turn bitter and glue-like, particularly with skin in the pot. Simmer 30 to 40 minutes, then strain.
- The fish goes in at the endFifteen minutes of simmering turns haddock or flounder to shreds. Add the diced fillet in the last 3 to 5 minutes, off a hard boil, and let it just set through.
- "Earthenware pot" and the casserole in this book"Earthenware pot" — the recipe puts an earthenware pot straight on the heat to boil and skim. Unglazed or ordinary earthenware will crack on a modern gas or induction burner; use a heavy saucepan or an enamelled cast-iron pot, or set flameproof stoneware on a diffuser.
- The rouxThe book reckons two heaping tablespoons of flour as 2 oz; by weight that is nearer six or seven level tablespoons, so weigh it rather than trusting the spoon count. Cook it in the butter a minute before the milk goes in so the soup does not taste of raw flour, and add the hot stock gradually to keep it smooth.
- Fish choiceHaddock and flounder both work, as will cod, pollock or hake. For the stock use bones and skin from any lean white fish; avoid salmon, mackerel or other oily trimmings, which will dominate the milk base.
- SeasoningSalt goes in at the start of the stock in the original, which risks over-salting after reduction. Salt lightly there and correct at the end, with white pepper and a little lemon juice to lift the dairy.
- YieldAfter an hour and a half of simmering the 8 cups of water or stock will have reduced appreciably; with the cup of milk added, expect roughly a quart and a half to two quarts, serving four to six as a first course. It does not reheat well once the fish is in; make the base ahead and finish with the fillet at service.
This soup is a domestic version of a classic hotel construction: a fish fumet strained from bones and aromatics, thickened with a white roux and milk into what a professional kitchen would call a velouté. The instruction to save skin and frames reflects a period habit rather than a flourish, since fishmongers filleted to order and the trimmings came home with the fish.