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Sect. 2.-Special Directions for Dressing River Fish To Fry Trout and Grayling
124. Scale, gut, and well wash; then dry them, and lay them separately on a board before the fire, after dusting some flour over them: or they may be egged and crumbed according to the directions given at par. 114. Fry them of a fine colour, with fresh dripping. Serve with crimped parsley and plain butter Time, from five to eight minutes.
A plain shallow-fry for small whole river fish, written when trout and grayling arrived from the water rather than the chill cabinet. The instructions assume you will do all the drying and coating before the fat goes on the heat.
- Dry the fish properlyThe direction to lay them on a board before the fire is the hinge of the recipe: a wet skin steams rather than browns and the flour slides off. Pat dry with paper and leave uncovered on a rack for fifteen minutes before flouring.
- Fresh drippingFat rendered from roast meat, commonly beef. Clarified butter, lard or a neutral oil with a high smoke point all work; use enough to come a third of the way up the fish.
- "Egged and crumbed"The cross-reference is to the book's egg-and-crumb method given earlier at par. 114: beaten egg followed by fine dry breadcrumbs. It gives a heavier crust than flour alone.
- Crimped parsleyMost likely the fried or crisped parsley usual with fried fish: parsley dropped into hot fat for a few seconds until it stiffens and turns brilliant green, then drained. It must be bone dry going in or the fat will spit violently.
- Plain butterProbably melted butter in the Victorian sense, butter thickened slightly with flour and water rather than simply poured from a pan. Plain warm butter with lemon serves the same purpose.
- Pan heat and timingFive to eight minutes suits small fish, turned once, in fat hot enough to sizzle on contact; the recipe specifies no size. A larger fish will need longer, and the flesh should just come away from the backbone.
- Scaling graylingGrayling scales are large and come away under the back of a knife. Work from tail to head and rinse well before drying.
- YieldAllow one fish of 8-10 oz per person as a course on its own, or one between two if it is part of a longer meal.
This section of the book gathers river fish, and the instructions begin at scaling and gutting rather than at buying. Grayling was esteemed for firm flesh and a faint scent often likened to thyme, and it kept a place in English cookery books through the nineteenth century before slipping out of common use as a table fish. Frying in dripping rather than butter reflects a household that rendered its own fat from roasts; fried parsley and a simple melted butter sauce were common accompaniments to fried fish in this period, appearing beside sole, whiting and smelts as readily as beside trout.