To Broil Fish
Split fish down the back, dry thoroughly, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Place fish, flesh side down, on a well-greased wire broiler. Turn and broil on skin side just enough to crisp the skin. Serve with lemon and parsley. Large fish are cut into slices one inch thick, and broiled on both sides evenly.
A method rather than a formula, written when broiling meant a hinged wire rack held over live coals in the range firebox. The technique translates directly to a modern broiler or grill, with one change in emphasis.
- The wire broilerThis is a double-sided hinged grid on a long handle, greased and closed over the fish so the whole thing can be flipped as a unit. A folding fish basket does the same job on a grill; under an oven broiler, use a greased rack set over a sheet pan and turn with two spatulas.
- Heat and distanceCoal broiling was fierce and close. Set an oven broiler to high, preheat it fully, and put the fish 3 to 4 inches below the element. Gentle heat steams split fish rather than browning it.
- Flesh side first is the pointThe cut surface goes toward the fire while it is at its hottest, which sets and colors the flesh. The skin side gets only a short finish to crisp it, as written — most of the cooking is already done by then.
- Timing the original omitsA split fish of about a pound needs roughly 4 to 6 minutes flesh side down and 2 to 3 minutes on the skin. Inch-thick steaks want about 4 minutes a side. Cook to 145F, or until the flesh just parts at the thickest point.
- Drying thoroughlyNot fussiness. Surface water boils off before browning can begin, so a wet fish comes out pale and sticks to the grid. Blot both sides with paper towels and grease the rack, not the fish, so the oil does not drip and flare.
- Salt and lemon juiceSalt 10 to 15 minutes ahead if you have time; it firms the surface. The lemon juice can go on before cooking as directed, but a second squeeze at the table is where the flavor actually reads.
- Which fishSplit-and-broil suits small oily or medium-firm fish — mackerel, bluefish, small trout, herring, sardines, butterflied branzino. The last line presumably covers fish too thick to split, such as cod or halibut: cut them into 1-inch steaks.
- YieldFigure one split fish of 3/4 to 1 lb, or one 1-inch steak of 6 to 8 oz, per person.
Broiling in The Butterick Cook Book (1911) still assumed a coal or wood range, where the cook opened the firebox and held a long-handled wire broiler over glowing coals — the technique closest to what an outdoor grill does now. Butterick, better known for dress patterns, published household manuals for the same readership of home-managing women, and the tone here is characteristic — no quantities, no times, just the sequence, on the assumption that anyone at a range could judge the rest by eye. Lemon and parsley finish the dish.