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To Fry Fish
114. For frying fish, it ought to be wrapped in a nice soft cloth, after it is well cleaned and washed. When perfectly dry, wet with an egg, and sprinkle the finest crumbs of bread over it; if done a second time with the egg and bread, at an interval of five minutes, the fish will took much better. Then, having a thick-bottomed and deep fryingpan on the fire, with a large quantity of lard or dripping boiling-hot, plunge the fish into it, and let it fry rather quickly, till the colour is of a fine brown yellow, and it is judged ready. If it is done enough before it has obtained a proper degree of colour, the cook should draw the pan to the side of the fire, carefully take it up, and either place it on a large sieve turned upwards, and to be kept for that purpose only, or on the under side of a dish, to drain; and if wanted to look very well, a sheet of cap-paper must be put to receive the fish, which should have a beautiful colour, and all the crumbs should appear distinct; the fish being free from all grease. The same dripping, with a little fresh, will serve a second, third, and fourth time (see par. 97). Butter gives a bad colour; oil fries of the finest colour for those who will allow the expense. It is customary to garnish with a fringe or curled raw parsley, or parsley fried, which must be thus done:- When washed and picked, throw it again into clean water; when the lard or dripping boils, throw the parsley into it immediately from the water, and instantly it will be green and crisp, and must be taken up with a slice; this may be done after the fish is fried.
A straightforward deep-fry method that holds up well; the only things it lacks are a thermometer reading and any sense of how hot is hot enough.
- Fat temperatureThe recipe gives no reading. "Boiling-hot" fat for this kind of frying would sit somewhere around 350-375F. Much below that and the double crumb coat absorbs fat and goes limp; much above, lard and dripping start to smoke and darken.
- Dry the fish firstThis is the hinge of the recipe. The instruction to wrap the fish in a cloth until "perfectly dry" is what lets the egg grip and the crumbs stay put; a damp surface sheds its coating into the fat within seconds.
- The double coatEgg and crumb, then, if wanted, a second egg and crumb after a five-minute interval; the original offers this as an improvement rather than a requirement. The pause lets the first layer set. Modern practice would flour the fish before the first egg for the same reason.
- "Finest crumbs of bread"Dried, sieved white breadcrumbs, not the coarse panko-style crumb. Fine crumbs are what give the "distinct" separate specks the author is after.
- Cap-paperA coarse, stout wrapping paper of the period, used here purely to blot. Kitchen paper or a wire rack over a tray does the same job; the rack keeps the underside crisp, which the paper does not.
- Reusing the fatStraining fish-frying fat and topping it up with fresh was standard household economy. Fat used for fish carries the flavour, so keep it for fish only, strain it while still warm, and discard it once it darkens, smells sharp, or foams.
- Fried parsleyThrowing wet parsley straight into hot fat, as directed, will make it spit violently. Shake the sprigs hard in a cloth first and lower them in with a spider or long-handled slice; five to ten seconds is enough to set the colour.
- Butter and oilThe observation still holds. Butter's milk solids brown and blacken well before the crumb colours; a neutral oil with a high smoke point gives the cleanest result. Lard and beef dripping sit between the two and give more flavour.
- Yield and servingFry in batches so the fat temperature does not fall, and serve at once with lemon wedges. Breaded fried fish loses its crispness within minutes of leaving the rack.
Deep-fried breaded fish belongs to a long English tradition of frying in beef dripping, and this entry records it as a household routine. The careful business of the second egg-and-crumb coat, the sieve or upturned dish for draining, and the sheet of paper to keep the crumbs "distinct" and the fish "free from all grease" all suggest that frying was judged largely by appearance at table. Fried parsley was a common garnish in nineteenth-century British and French cookery, a few seconds in hot fat giving a vivid, brittle green; the note that oil "fries of the finest colour for those who will allow the expense" is a reminder that olive and salad oils were comparatively costly in Britain, while dripping was a by-product every kitchen already had.