No. 1097

Black Bass with Sweet Peppers

Bass Noir aux Poivrons Doux

Split the bass lengthwise on the belly side to the back, but do not separate the pieces; take out the backbone; season with salt, baste with a little oil, besprinkle with fresh bread-crumbs, and broil over a slow fire, turning it once only: when done dress on a hot dish. Garnish around with sweet peppers fried in oil with a little crushed and chopped garlic, salt, black and prepared red pepper (No. 168), fine herbs and lemon juice.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a live-fire broiler and a cook who knows what a boned, butterflied fish looks like. The technique carries over to a gas grill or a heavy pan with very little adjustment.

Boning the fishSplitting "on the belly side to the back" without separating the halves means butterflying: cut the belly open, spread the fish flat, and lift out the backbone with the rib bones attached, leaving the two fillets joined along the back skin. A 2 to 3 lb whole black bass, scaled and gutted, gives two servings; ask the fishmonger to butterfly it if you would rather not.
"Broil over a slow fire"A slow fire is a moderate, steady one, not fierce heat close to the food: raise the grate or bank the coals. High heat scorches the crumb coating long before a butterflied fish is set. Reckon on roughly 8 to 12 minutes total for a 2 lb fish, judged by eye.
Turning once onlyThis is the hinge. A crumbed, boned fish will shed its coating and tear if it is moved repeatedly; oil the grate, let the first side set completely until it releases on its own, then flip and finish. Skin side down last is the safer order on a grill.
Prepared red pepper (No. 168)This is Ranhofer's own numbered red pepper preparation rather than a fresh chile; his No. 168 gives the detail. A pinch of cayenne stands in, or a good sweet paprika if you want the color without much heat.
Fine herbsfines herbes is chopped parsley, usually with some combination of chervil, chives and tarragon, added at the end so they keep their perfume. Parsley and chives alone are an acceptable reduction.
The pepper garnishCut two or three red and yellow bell peppers into strips and fry them slowly in olive oil until slack and lightly colored, 15 to 20 minutes, adding the garlic only in the last minute or two so it does not turn bitter. Season, then finish off the heat with lemon juice and the herbs.
Crumbs and oilFresh bread-crumbs, not dried commercial crumbs: tear the crumb of a day-old loaf and rub it through your fingers. Baste with oil before crumbing and again lightly on the second side, or the coating stays pale and dusty.
DonenessCook to 130-135F at the thickest point; the flesh should be barely opaque and still juicy at the center. Black bass is lean and passes from moist to cottony within a minute or two.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer wrote The Epicurean (1894) out of some thirty years running the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York, and this recipe shows how the restaurant handled American river and coastal fish in a French idiom: a black bass dressed under a French title and served with peppers stewed in oil and garlic in a manner closer to Provence or the Basque country than to the classical repertory. Sweet peppers were associated in American cooking of the period with Spanish, Italian and Creole dishes rather than with the classical French kitchen. Boning a fish through the belly and broiling it flat suited a fish meant to be eaten with a fork and no negotiation over bones.