Home › A Cup of Fish › Carp Cooked in Claret
Carp Cooked in Claret
(An 18th Century recipe that's still going strong) Rub him clean with salt and water, open him and put his blood and liver into a saucepan. Then take sweet marjoram, thyme, and parsley, 1/2 a handful of each, bind into small bundles and place inside the fish with 4 or 5 whole onions, 20 pickled oysters and 3 anchovies. Place in the saucepan and pour on the fish as much claret as will cover him. Season the claret with salt, cloves, and mace, and rinds of oranges and lemons. Cover the pot and set it on a quick fire till it is boiled enough. Lay the fish and broth on a dish and pour on it some melted butter with 6 spoonfuls of broth, yolks of 2 eggs and shred herbs. Garnish with cut lemon.
A whole fish poached in red wine with a rich egg-and-butter liaison. The hinge is the final sauce: the yolks must never come near a boil or the broth will curdle into grains.
- The sauce, firstBeat the yolks with a little of the hot broth to temper them, then add off the heat and swirl the melted butter in gradually. If the pan is on the flame the yolks will scramble and the broth will break.
- "A quick fire"High heat to bring the wine up, then drop to a bare simmer as soon as bubbles break. "Boiled enough" for a 3-4 lb carp means roughly 20-30 minutes at a shiver, or until the flesh at the backbone reads about 145F.
- ClaretAn English term for red Bordeaux, and by extension any dry claret-style red. The recipe asks only for enough to cover the fish; in a deep pan or fish kettle expect a couple of bottles, more in a wide pot.
- Blood and liverThese were the natural thickener and colouring for the broth. A modern fishmonger will not hand over the blood; the liver may be available on request. The dish works without either, though the broth stays lighter.
- Pickled oystersOysters preserved in spiced vinegar brine were a standing larder item and functioned as seasoning as much as shellfish. Jarred or canned oysters plus a spoonful of the pickling liquid, or a splash of good vinegar, gets close. Add them near the end of cooking; twenty minutes in the wine turns them to rubber.
- Half a handfulRead it as a loose small bunch of each herb, perhaps 10-15 g, tied with string so the bundles can be lifted out whole before serving.
- Whole onionsSmall peeled onions or shallots, left intact so they hold their shape in the broth rather than dissolving into it.
- Mace and orange rindMace is the outer covering of nutmeg and is sold as blades; a blade or two is plenty. Pare the citrus rinds thinly with no white pith, which turns bitter in a long wine simmer.
- The fish itselfCarp can carry a muddy note from its feeding ground. Farmed carp is generally clean; scale it thoroughly and scrub the skin with the salt and water as directed, which also removes surface slime. Serves three or four as a main course.