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Turbot, or other Large Fish, Garnish for
Take the crumb of a stale loaf, cut it into small pyramids with flat tops, and on the top of each pyramid put rather more than a tablespoonful of white of egg beaten to a stiff froth. Over this sprinkle finely-chopped parsley and fine raspings of a dark colour. Arrange these on the napkin round the fish, one green and one brown alternately.
Turkey, Baked. (Italian Recipe.) -INGREDIENTS for dish for 8 persons. -A medium-sized turkey, 1/4 lb. of sausage, 8 French prunes, 4 pears, 1/2 pint of boiled and peeled chestnuts, a glass of Marsala or sherry, butter, salt, a few slices of bacon and 8s.
Blanch and cut the sausage into thin long pieces, blanch and stone the prunes, peel and quarter the pears; fry them with the chestnuts in a little butter for a minute or two; chop the liver of the turkey fine, and add it, then mix with the wine and make a forcemeat. Salt the inside of the turkey slightly and stuff with the forcemeat, and put it in the pan with the bacon, some butter, rosemary and a little salt. Place in a slow oven, basting occasionally, till of a good colour. Serve with its own gravy.
TIME. About 2 hours.
SEASONABLE all the year, except March to May.
Two separate entries run together here: a decorative garnish for a whole poached fish, and an Italian-style stuffed roast turkey. The notes below cover both.
- RaspingsFine raspings are dried breadcrumbs grated from a hard-baked crust; "of a dark colour" means well-browned crumbs, for contrast against the green parsley. Any coarse dry crumb toasted to a deep brown does the same job.
- The garnish is decoration, not foodThe beaten white sits raw on the bread and is meant to be looked at, arranged on the folded napkin around the fish rather than eaten. Treat it as table dressing and clear it with the platter.
- "Blanch" the sausageMost likely a fresh raw sausage, briefly boiled to firm it and draw off some fat before slicing; a cured or smoked sausage is unlikely to be what is meant.
- French prunesDried plums. Blanching softens them enough to slip the stone out; if bought pitted, a short soak in hot water is enough.
- Half a pint of chestnutsA volume measure, not a weight; measure by volume rather than converting, since the weight depends on how the nuts pack. Vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts save the scoring and peeling.
- A slow ovenConventionally glossed as somewhere around 275-300F. At that heat a medium bird may well need longer than the stated two hours, so cook to temperature rather than to the clock: 165F in the thickest part of the thigh, and the same in the centre of the forcemeat.
- Stuffing a birdBecause the forcemeat contains raw liver and raw sausage, it must reach 165F itself. Packing it loosely helps; a densely stuffed cavity holds the bird well short of temperature while the breast dries out.
- The bacon and bastingThe bacon is barding, there to keep the meat from drying in the long slow heat. The recipe puts it in the pan without saying where it lies, though over the breast is the usual place; it can be lifted off near the end to let the skin colour.
- ServingEight portions as written. "Its own gravy" means the pan juices, skimmed of fat.
Mrs Beeton's later editions took in a run of continental recipes under national labels, and this "Italian" turkey belongs to a genuine northern Italian tradition of tacchino ripieno, the Christmas bird stuffed with sausage, chestnuts, dried fruit and the chopped liver, moistened with a fortified wine. Marsala, from western Sicily, was a staple of the British wine trade from the late eighteenth century onward, which is why an English book offers it and sherry interchangeably. The fish garnish above it reflects a different world entirely: what is generally described as the Victorian and Edwardian habit of sending a whole turbot to table on a folded damask napkin, dressed with parsley, lemon and coloured crumbs, where presentation is said to have carried as much weight as the cooking.