Fried Fish
Clean, removing head and tail (unless the fish are small); wash with cold water and dry on piece of cheesecloth; dust with salt, pepper and flour on both sides. Heat one tablespoon bacon drippings or other fat in heavy pan over hot fire. Put in fish; brown quickly on both sides; reduce heat and fry 5 to 10 minutes longer, or fry in deep fat. Serve with chopped parsley and lemon or sauce tartare.
A bare-bones method that assumes a cast-iron pan and a coal range. The technique still works; only the heat control needs translating.
- "Hot fire"On a gas or electric burner this means medium-high, with the fat shimmering but not smoking. A tablespoon of fat is enough only for small pan-dressed fish in a well-seasoned pan; for fillets over half an inch thick use three or four tablespoons.
- Dry the fish properlyThis is the hinge. Surface moisture steams instead of browning and the flour coating slides off in the pan. Cheesecloth was a common kitchen cloth of the period; paper towels do the same job, and letting the dusted fish sit five minutes helps the flour adhere.
- TimingFive to ten minutes after browning suits a whole pan-dressed trout or perch of about 8 to 10 ounces. Modern fillets of half an inch cook through in three to four minutes total. Cook to 145F at the thickest point, or until the flesh just parts from the bone.
- Deep fatThe original gives no temperature. Use 350 to 365F; below that the coating soaks, above it the flour scorches before the interior sets.
- Bacon drippingsRendered bacon fat was a common frying medium in kitchens of this period and gives a distinct smoky edge. Its smoke point is usually given as roughly 325 to 375F, which is fine for pan-frying but marginal for deep fat; lard, peanut or another neutral high-smoke oil is safer for the latter.
- Flour dustingPlain wheat flour is what the instruction implies. Fine cornmeal, or a half-and-half mix with flour, gives a crisper crust.
- YieldFigure one whole small fish or six to eight ounces of fillet per person. Fry in batches with space between the pieces; crowding drops the pan temperature and the fish poaches.
- Sauce tartareThe French form of tartar sauce, common in cookbooks of this era: mayonnaise with chopped capers, gherkins or pickles, and parsley. Any modern version stands in.
Fried fish in a flour dusting is one of the oldest and most widely distributed ways of cooking a small whole fish, and by the time this book appeared it needed no explanation to an American home cook. What dates the entry is the fat: bacon drippings, saved in a crock by the stove, were a common frying medium in home kitchens before commercial vegetable shortenings and bottled oils became widespread. The instruction to remove head and tail "unless the fish are small" suggests a period when much of the fish eaten at home arrived whole rather than filleted at a counter. The New Royal Cook Book was published as promotional literature by the makers of Royal Baking Powder.