Broiled Swordfish

Four ingredients and no timings, which is typical of the period's fish cookery — the cook was expected to know her fire. The whole outcome rests on thickness and on stopping early.

• Cut the steaks thickAsk for swordfish steaks a full inch to an inch and a quarter thick. Thin steaks are dry before they colour, which is the usual reason people declare they dislike swordfish.
• "Broil" meant a grid over coalsIn a kitchen of this period this would typically have meant a hinged wire broiler held over the range fire or a bed of coals rather than an overhead element. A modern overhead broiler on high with the rack four inches from the element does much the same job, as does a hot grill.
• TimingAbout four to five minutes a side for a one-inch steak. Swordfish is dense and holds heat, so pull it while the centre is just barely opaque; carryover finishes it.
• DonenessThe USDA figure for fish is 145F at the centre. Some cooks prefer to take swordfish off nearer 130F for a moister result, which is a considered choice rather than an oversight — decide before you start rather than after.
• Butter, generouslyThe rub of butter is not seasoning alone; it is what keeps a lean, meaty fish from sticking and drying. Soften it rather than melting it, and put more on the fish as it comes off the heat.
• What the book assumed you would serve with itBroiled fish of this era often went to the table with maitre d'hotel butter — butter worked with lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt and pepper — and a wedge of lemon. Nothing else is needed.
• YieldFigure six to eight ounces of steak per person; a pound and a half serves three.
• A modern note on the fish itselfSwordfish is a long-lived predator and carries comparatively high methylmercury. Current advice from the FDA is that pregnant people and young children avoid it; others eat it occasionally rather than weekly.