John Dory
INGREDIENTS.-lb. of salt to each gallon of water. AVERAGE CosT, 3s. to 5s. each.
This fish, which is esteemed by most people a great delicacy, is dressed in the same way as a turbot, which it resembles in firmness, but not in richness. Cleanse it thoroughly and cut off the fins; lay it in a fish kettle, cover with cold water and add salt in the above proportion.
Bring it gradually to a boil, and simmer gently for 1/4 hour or rather longer, should the fish be very large.
Serve on a hot napkin, and garnish with cut lemon and parsley. Lobster, anchovy or shrimp sauce and plain melted butter should be sent to table with it.
JOHN DORY.
TIME.-After the water boils, 1/4 to 1/2 hour, according to size.
SEASONABLE all the year, but best from September to January.
Note.-Small John Dory are very good baked, and this is a very nice fish served either boiled or fried in fillets, with a good sauce.
A plain salt-water poach for a whole flatfish-shaped round fish, written for a household with a fish kettle and a fishmonger who would do the gutting. Two of the printed quantities have dropped out of the text and need reconstructing.
- The missing salt quantityThe line reads "lb. of salt to each gallon of water" with the fraction lost in printing; Beeton uses 1/4 lb salt to the gallon in comparable boiled-fish recipes, which would be roughly 110 g per 4.5 litres, or about 2.5% brine — somewhat weaker than seawater, but a sound strength for poaching; it seasons the flesh without making it salty.
- The missing timeThe heading similarly reads "to hour" — read it as 1/4 to 1/2 hour after the water comes up, the shorter end for a fish of 1-1.5 kg. By modern practice, bring the pan barely to a shiver and count 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness at the shoulder; the flesh should part from the bone at 55-60C.
- Start in cold waterThe instruction to cover with cold water and bring it up gradually is the hinge of the recipe. A whole fish dropped into boiling water splits its skin and cooks unevenly; the slow rise sets the flesh through and keeps the shape intact for serving.
- Fish kettle substituteIf you have no long kettle, a deep roasting tin across two burners with a doubled sling of foil under the fish works, or bake it covered in the same brine at 180C. John Dory is broad and thin, so length matters more than depth.
- The fins are the real hazardZeus faber carries long, stiff dorsal spines and sharp spines about the gill cover. Cut them off with kitchen shears before handling, rather than a knife.
- On a hot napkinA folded linen cloth laid on a hot platter, which wicks away the poaching water so the sauce is not diluted. A rack set over a warmed dish does the same job with less laundry.
- The saucesPlain melted butter here means Beeton's flour-thickened butter sauce, not clarified butter; anchovy and shrimp sauce are that same base with pounded anchovy or picked shrimps beaten in. Any of them can be made while the fish comes up to heat.
- Yield and costA John Dory yields much less than its whole weight — the head and frame are enormous in proportion — so allow around 500 g of whole fish per person. The 3s. to 5s. "each" of the original marked it as a luxury purchase even then.
John Dory (Zeus faber) has been a prized fish in Britain and around the Mediterranean for centuries, valued, as Beeton says, for firm flesh rather than richness. The dark spot on each flank is traditionally explained as the thumbprint of St Peter, taking the tribute coin from the fish's mouth, which is why the French call it Saint-Pierre and the Italians pesce San Pietro; the English name is usually traced, tentatively, to jaune dor e, golden-yellow, though the derivation is folk etymology as much as evidence. That Beeton treats it "in the same way as a turbot" is telling: in the Victorian kitchen the great boiled fish was a formal dinner course, sent up whole on a napkin with a tureen of sauce beside it. The note that small ones bake well, and that fillets fry, points at the way the fish is commonly cooked now.