Cod, Curried
INGREDIENTS for dish sufficient for 4 persons. - 2 slices of large cod, or the remains of any cold fish; 3 oz. of butter, 1 onion sliced, a teacupful of white stock, thickening of butter and flour, 1 small teaspoonful of curry-powder, 1/4 pint of cream, salt and cayenne to taste. AVERAGE COST, with fresh fish, 2s. 7d.
Flake the fish, and fry it of a nice brown colour with the butter and onions; put this in a stewpan, add the stock and thickening, and simmer for ten minutes. Stir curry-powder into the cream; put it, with the seasoning, to the other ingredients; give one boil, and serve.
TIME.- hour.
SEASONABLE from November o Larch.
COD, SALT.
Cod Pie. INGREDIENTS for pie for 6 persons.-2 slices of cod; pepper and salt to taste; 1/2 a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 large blade of pounded mace, 2 oz. of butter, 1/2 pint of stock, a paste crust (see PASTRY).
For sauce-1 tablespoonful of stock, 1/4 pint of cream or milk, thickening of flour or butter, lemon-peel, chopped very fine, to taste, 12 oysters. AVERAGE COST, 2s. 9d.
Lay the cod in salt for 4 hours, then wash it and place it in a dish; season, and add the butter and stock; cover with the crust, and bake for 1 hour, or rather more. Now make the sauce, by mixing the ingredients named above; give it one boil, and pour it into the pie by a hole made at the top of the crust, which can easily be covered by a small piece of pastry cut and baked in any fanciful shape-such as a leaf or otherwise.
TIME.-1 hour.
SEASONABLE om November to March.
Note. The rerins of cold fish may be used for this pie.
Cod Pie (Economical). (Cold Meat Cookery.) - INGREDIENTS.-Any remains of cold cod, 12 oysters, or oyster sauce left from Lay before, sufficient melted butter to moisten it; mashed potatoes enough to fill up the dish. AVERAGE COST, exclusive of the fish, with fresh oysters, 1s. 6d.
Flake the fish from the bone, and carefully take away all the skin. Lay it in a pie-dish, pour over the melted butter and oysters (or oyster sauce, if there is any left), and cover with mashed potatoes. Bake for 1/2 an hour, and send to table of a nice brown colour.
TIME. hour.
SEASONABLE from November to March.
Cod, Salt (commonly called "Salt Fish.")- INGREDIENTS. -Sufficient water to cover the fish. AVERAGE COST, 4d. to 6d. per lb.
Wash the fish, and lay it all night in water, with a pint of vinegar.
When thoroughly soaked, take it out, see that it is perfectly clean, and put it in the fishkettle, with sufficient cold water to cover it. Heat it gradually, but do not let it boil much, or the fish will be hard. Skim well, and when done, drain the fish, and put it on a napkin garnished with hard-boiled eggs cut in rings.
TIME. About 1 hour.
SEASONABLE in the spring.
Note. Serve with egg sauce and parsnips, This is a usual dish on Ash Wednesdays.
COD'S HEAD AND SHOULDERS. 97
A quick Anglo-Indian way of using up cooked cod or a couple of fresh steaks, thickened with flour and butter and finished with curried cream. It serves four.
- The hinge: add the cream last, off the heatThe curry powder is stirred into the cream and the whole thing gets "one boil" only. Cream held at a prolonged simmer with fish liquor can separate; bring it just to the boil and take the pan straight off.
- Teacupful of stockA Victorian teacup runs about 5 to 6 fl oz, so a scant three-quarters of a cup. Use a light chicken or fish stock; "white stock" here simply means an unbrowned one.
- Thickening of butter and flourBeurre manié rather than a cooked roux: about 1/2 oz each of soft butter and flour kneaded together, whisked into the simmering stock in small pieces.
- Curry-powderVictorian commercial curry powder was generally milder and heavier on turmeric and coriander than modern blends. A level teaspoon of a contemporary madras powder will be considerably hotter; taste before you commit the cayenne.
- Flake, then fry gentlyFlaked fish fried "of a nice brown colour" will shred to nothing. Colour the sliced onion in the butter, then add the flakes for a minute or two only, or fry the fresh steaks whole and flake them after.
- TimingWith cooked fish the whole dish takes about twenty minutes: ten minutes' simmering to thicken the sauce, then the cream. Fresh cod needs no more than that.
- Butter quantity3 oz for four portions is generous by modern taste; 1 to 1 1/2 oz is enough to soften the onion, and the sauce is already enriched with cream.
- ServingPlain boiled rice is the period accompaniment, with lemon and a little chopped parsley or mango chutney alongside.
Curried fish belongs to the enormous Anglo-Indian repertoire that British kitchens absorbed through the nineteenth century, when ready-made curry powder sold by grocers and firms such as Crosse & Blackwell made "a curry" a matter of one spoonful from the store cupboard rather than a ground masala. The seasonal note, November to March, reflects the pre-refrigeration market for fresh cod, at its best and cheapest in the winter months; the average cost of 2s. 7d. is given for a household buying fish fresh rather than working from remains.