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Jelly to Cover Cold Fish
295. Clean a small skate and put it into three quarts of water, with a calf's foot or cow-heel, a stick of horseradish, an onion, three blades of mace, some white pepper, a piece of lemon-peel, and a good slice of lean gammon; stew till it becomes jelly; strain it off, and when cold remove every bit of fat; take it up from the sediment and boil it, omitting the fat, with a glass of sherry, the whites of four or five eggs, and a piece of lemon; boil without stirring, and after a few minutes set it by to stand half an hour and strain it through a bag or sieve with a cloth in it; cover the fish with it when cold.
This is a savoury aspic — a clear fish-and-veal jelly used to glaze a cooked cold fish before serving. The whole point is clarity and a firm but tender set, and both depend on how you handle the clearing stage.
- The hinge: do not stir the clearingOnce the egg whites go in, bring the jelly up slowly and let the coagulated raft rise undisturbed. Stirring breaks the raft and drives fine particles back into the liquid, which is what turns a glaze cloudy. Ladle the finished jelly out through the raft rather than pouring the pot.
- Calf's foot or cow-heelThese supplied the gelatin. A butcher can still order them, but they need 4-5 hours of gentle stewing to give up their collagen — the recipe's "stew till it becomes jelly" is not a short job. If you use powdered or leaf gelatin instead, make a well-flavoured fish stock and allow roughly 1 to 1.5 percent gelatin by weight of liquid for a coating jelly.
- Testing the set before you commitThe original gives no gauge. Chill a teaspoonful on a cold saucer; it should be firm enough to hold a thumbprint but still melt in the mouth. Too stiff and the glaze sits on the fish like rubber.
- GammonHere it means raw cured ham, not the cooked pink sliced kind — a piece of unsmoked bacon or a ham hock end does the same work, adding salt and savour. Season the jelly cautiously until after the gammon has been in.
- Blades of maceMace is the lacy outer covering of the nutmeg; whole "blades" are sold at spice merchants. Ground mace can stand in, but equivalents vary: start with about half a teaspoon for the three blades and taste, bearing in mind that ground mace will tint the jelly.
- SkateSkate wings are still sold, but the large common skate is now protected in European waters and must not be landed; buy whatever ray or skate your fishmonger offers as sustainable. Skate is used here for its high gelatin content, not its flavour — any gelatinous white fish trimmings, heads and bones will serve.
- Quantities and yieldThe recipe starts from three quarts of water and gives no finished volume; expect a good deal less after long stewing and straining. Judge by what you are coating and halve the recipe if you are glazing a single fillet.
- Applying the glazeLet the jelly cool to the point where it is syrupy but not setting, then spoon it over the thoroughly chilled fish in thin coats, chilling between each. Two or three light coats give a clean shell; one thick pour slides off.
- Chill it properlyA fish stock jelly made with meat and ham is a good medium for bacteria and was originally made for a cold larder in constant use. Keep it refrigerated, use it within a day or two, and do not leave the glazed fish standing at room temperature on a buffet.