Baked Halibut Steak

Four sentences of instruction that assume you already know what a baking fish looks like when it is done. The hinge here is heat and time: halibut is lean, and the gap between moist and chalky is a couple of minutes.

• Oven temperatureNone is given, which in a book of this date means the cook was expected to judge it. A moderate oven, in modern terms somewhere around 350-375F, suits this dish; at higher heat the milk will brown and reduce faster than the fish cooks.
• TimingAt the moderate heat suggested above a 1-inch steak will want something in the region of 15-20 minutes, and the recipe's instruction to baste until a whole cup of milk is used implies a longer, not shorter, spell in the oven. Judge it by eye as the book expects: the flesh has just turned opaque and separates into large flakes.
• What the milk is doingBasting "until all the milk is used" means the milk reduces around the fish and the buttery drippings, making a light pan sauce. Use a shallow pan so the liquid stays thin and reduces rather than pooling and stewing the underside.
• A cup of milkThat is a cup total for the panful, not per steak. Whole milk behaves best; skim splits and leaves a grainy film.
• Butter, pepper and saltRubbing the salt in 15-20 minutes ahead firms the surface and helps the steak hold together. Be generous with the butter, since halibut has almost no fat of its own to work with.
• Mushroom sauceNo recipe is cross-referenced here. Mushroom sauces of this period were made both on a cream or veloute base and on a brown stock base, so either is defensible; whichever you use, whisk the reduced pan milk into it rather than discarding it.
• YieldAllow one 6-8 oz steak per person. Two large steaks in a single pan will feed four if you cut them at the bone.
• Which halibutAtlantic halibut stocks have been heavily depleted; Pacific halibut is the better-managed choice and behaves much the same. Thick-cut halibut cheeks also work.