No. 1121

Bluefish with Mayonnaise and Tarragon

Bluefish a la Mayonnaise et a l'Estragon

Lift the fillets from very fresh bluefish, also the skin covering the meats by placing the fish on a very even board and pressing down on the fish with one hand, while using the other to slip a thin, straight knife between the skin and meat. Cut the fish into slices, season, and bread them by first dipping them in eggs and then in bread-crumbs; put the pieces on to cook in a sautoir with clarified butter, being careful to turn them over when nicely browned on one side; when done equally well on both sides, drain and serve them on a hot dish surrounded with quartered lemons. Serve separately at the same time a mayonnaise sauce with tarragon (No. 612).

← No. 1120 Bluefish in Papers Bass, Blackfish & Bluefish No. 1122 Bonito or Tunny Fish a la Godivier →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

A straightforward breaded saut hat depends almost entirely on the freshness of the fish. Ranhofer's instructions assume a whole bluefish and a cook who knows how to fillet it.

Skinning the filletThe pressing-and-slipping method described works, but it is easier on a damp board or towel so the fillet does not slide. Bluefish skin is tough and comes away cleanly if the knife is angled slightly toward it.
The dark stripRanhofer does not mention it, but bluefish has a pronounced band of dark, oily muscle down the centre of each fillet. Trimming it away gives a milder result; leaving it is a matter of taste.
"Very fresh" is the hingeBluefish is oily and spoils quickly, going strong and rancid sooner than leaner white fish. If it smells assertive rather than clean, no amount of breading will save it. Buy the day you cook.
SautoirA straight-sided saut pan. A heavy skillet does the same job; the point is a wide flat base so the slices sit in contact with the butter.
Clarified butterUsed here because whole butter's milk solids scorch before the crumbs brown. Clarified butter, or a mix of butter and neutral oil, holds up to the heat needed.
Cooking timeRanhofer gives no thickness or timing, only 'turn them over when nicely browned on one side'. Cut to whatever thickness you like and brown briefly on each side; bluefish goes dry and cottony if pushed, so pull it when the centre just flakes.
The sauceNo. 612 is the mayonnaise with tarragon that Ranhofer cross-references here. Made fresh from raw yolks, it should be served the same day and kept cold; the acid and the pungency are there to cut the oiliness of the fish.
YieldThe recipe gives no weight and no number of servings; a whole bluefish yields two fillets, cut into as many slices as you need. Serve the hot fish and cold sauce separately, as written -- the contrast is the point.

A Little History

Bluefish was a cheap, abundant Atlantic fish in Ranhofer's New York, landed in quantity along the Jersey and Long Island shores and sold quickly -- its oiliness meant it did not keep or travel well, and it appears far less often in inland American cookbooks of the period than it does in The Epicurean (1894), written from the kitchens of Delmonico's. The French dressing here is characteristic of Ranhofer's method: a plain local fish is given a Parisian title, breaded and sautéed in clarified butter, and paired with a cold tarragon mayonnaise, one of the standard sauces à l'estragon of nineteenth-century French service.