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Dressing Shell Fish: Bake
Give a boil or two, and pour into the dish strained. Strew some crumbs, and put a paste over all. Bake slowly, but only till the paste be done. 197. CROQUETTES OF LOBSTER. -Pound or chop fine the fleshy part of a lobster, and add a quarter as much of sifted bread crumbs, season with pepper, salt, anchovy, and a little mace, and add a little vinegar or lemon-juice, and a few spoonsful of cream, if no white sauce be at hand. Warm it, and beat in the yolk of an egg. When cool, make it into either round or oval balls, or flat cakes: dip in egg and crumbs, and fry them dry in lard. 198. LOBSTER PATTIES. - Make them with the same seasoning as for oysters, adding a little cream, and the smallest bit of butter. Another.-Roll out some very light puff paste to a little more than half an inch in thickness. Cut it with a fluted paste-cutter, either in round or oval shapes; then with another cutter a size smaller. Mark them half through; dipping this cutter into hot water to prevent the paste from adhering to it. Bake ten minutes or more according to the state of the oven, and while hot, take out the portions that have been cut through with the small cutter, and scoop out the crumbs-the lid may be laid on again or not. Fill with lobster prepared as for croquettes (par. 197). N.B. -This forms a more dressy patty than those ordinarily made. 199. TO FORCE LOBSTERS. -Boil them well, and take out the bodies, and the meat from the feelers, and mix with it one or two boiled whitthe meat from the feelers, and mix with it one or two boiled whitings, and two anchovies chopped fine, two eggs beaten, a piece of butter, some thyme, parsley, shalot, and pepper and salt. Fill the bodies again with this mixture , and bake half-an-hour. Serve cold with the tail cut in half , and with the claws arranged round the bodies.
Four lobster preparations from the shellfish chapter, all built on the same principle: cooked lobster meat, bound and seasoned, then either fried, baked in pastry, or returned to the shell. The seasonings are Victorian but the technique holds up.
- Start with cooked lobsterEvery one of these begins with meat already boiled. Two 1 lb live lobsters will give somewhere in the region of 8 oz of picked meat. Frozen or freshly picked meat from the fishmonger works as well.
- Anchovy as seasoningWhere the text says "anchovy" it means anchovy essence or a pounded salted fillet, used as a savoury salt rather than a distinct flavour. A teaspoon of anchovy paste or two mashed fillets per pound of lobster is the right order; salt the mixture only after it is in.
- MaceBlade mace was very commonly used with fish in this period. Ground mace at a quarter teaspoon per pound is the nearest substitute; nutmeg is close but sweeter and heavier.
- Croquette bindingA quarter as much crumb (the text does not say whether by weight or volume), an egg yolk and a spoonful of cream is a loose bind. Chill the mixture thoroughly, at least an hour, before shaping or the balls will slump in the pan.
- Frying "dry in lard"Most likely deep-fried rather than shallow-fried, and lard rather than butter, which would brown and catch. Lard or a neutral oil at 350-360F, three to four minutes until the crumb is deep gold. The interior is already cooked; you are only setting the coating.
- Vol-au-vent casesPatty cases -- The scoring trick works with bought all-butter puff pastry rolled, as the text says, to a little more than half an inch. The book gives no temperature, only 'ten minutes or more according to the state of the oven'; a hot oven, around 425F, and 15-20 minutes suits modern puff pastry, which needs the heat to lift.
- Forced lobstersWhiting is the mild white fish here; pollock, haddock or hake stands in. The book gives no oven heat; a moderate oven, around 350F, suits the half-hour it specifies. The dish is served cold, so allow chilling time.
- ShalotA single small shallot, finely chopped, for two lobsters. It goes in raw and cooks in the stuffing; softening it in a little butter first gives a less aggressive result.