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Broiled Bass
Clean a bass, split it lengthwise in halves, cutting each half again into two or three pieces; sprinkle over with flour and place on a gridiron over a slow fire, broiling them very gently, brush over continually with butter to prevent burning. When of a light brown color, place the pieces of fish on a napkin spread over a dish and serve.
A bare-bones broiling method from the Waldorf kitchen, written for a coal-fired range with a hinged gridiron. The whole technique rests on low, steady heat and constant basting.
- The hinge: gentle heat"A slow fire" means embers past their peak, not a searing flame — the fish should take colour over several minutes rather than char in one. Under a modern broiler, set the rack 6-8 inches from the element rather than the usual 3-4, or work over the cooler side of a charcoal grill.
- Which bassAt the Waldorf this most likely meant striped bass or black sea bass, sold whole and split, though the recipe says only "a bass." Any firm 2-4 lb whole fish works; a 3 lb bass split and cut yields four to six pieces, serving three or four.
- Splitting it yourselfSplit lengthwise means through the backbone into two halves, skin on, then each half crosswise into two or three portions. Ask a fishmonger to do it if you would rather not; leave the skin, which holds the flour coating and the flesh together.
- The flourA light dusting only, patted onto a dry surface. It is there to give a thin browning crust and to keep the butter from running straight off, not to make a batter.
- Basting"Continually" is meant literally — clarified butter is better than whole butter here, since milk solids blacken quickly under direct heat. Keep a small pan of it warm beside the grill with a brush.
- Doneness"Light brown color" is a surface cue, not an internal one. Figure roughly 4-6 minutes a side for inch-thick pieces, and check that the flesh has just turned opaque at the bone.
- The gridironA wire fish basket or a well-oiled grill grate does the same job. Oil the metal before the fish touches it, or the skin will tear when you turn the pieces.
- The napkinA folded linen napkin under broiled or fried fish was standard hotel service — it absorbs steam and stray butter so the pieces do not sit in liquid. Parchment or a rack over a warm platter achieves the same end.
Oscar Tschirky, who ran the Waldorf's dining rooms from 1893, published The Cook Book by "Oscar" of the Waldorf in 1896 as a vast compendium of the hotel's repertoire, and its fish chapter reflects what New York markets supplied: striped bass, generally said to have come from the Hudson and Long Island Sound, was a staple of both hotel and household tables. The instructions are terse because they were written for cooks who already knew a gridiron; the near-total absence of seasoning, times and quantities is typical of the book, which reads more like a chef's aide-mémoire than a teaching text. Serving fish on a folded napkin was a nineteenth-century service convention, often traced to French practice, and it appears throughout the era's hotel cookery before flat platters and paper liners displaced it.