No. 1139

Fresh Cod's Head, Egg Sauce

Tete de Morue Fraiche Sauce aux Œufs

After cleaning, washing, and tying the head of a codfish weighing about ten pounds, place it in a fish kettle, and cover with salted water; add parsley branches, sliced onions, whole peppers and vinegar, boil and leave it on the side of the fire for half an hour, keeping it near the boiling point. When the fish is done, dress it on a long dish covered with a napkin, and garnish the ends with parsley leaves, laying boiled potatoes pared olive-shaped on each side. Serve a separate sauceboat of egg sauce (No. 462).

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For the Modern Kitchen

A plain poached fish course from Ranhofer's Delmonico's book, built on a cheap cut that has since fallen out of the market. Most of the work is in the sourcing and in not overcooking.

What size headThe ten pounds refers to the whole codfish, not the head; the head off a fish that size runs roughly 2 to 3 lb, more if the collar and shoulder are left attached. Ask a fishmonger to keep the collar on, since that is the best eating on it.
Fish kettleA long oval pan with a perforated lifting rack. A roasting pan set on the stovetop, or a wide deep saute pan, works if the head is fully covered by liquid; lay it on a doubled strip of cheesecloth so you can lift it out without breaking it.
TyingThe jaw and gill plates fall apart as the collagen loosens. Wrap the head in cheesecloth and tie it, or bind it in two or three loops of kitchen twine, before it goes into the water.
The hinge: keep it below a boil"boil and leave it on the side of the fire for half an hour, keeping it near the boiling point" means bring the liquid up, then draw it to the side so it holds just under a boil rather than rolling. A true rolling boil shreds the cheeks and clouds the broth. The half hour is for a head of this size; a smaller head will take proportionately less. It is done when a skewer slides through the thickest part of the collar and the eyes have gone opaque.
The court bouillonSalted water with parsley stems, sliced onion, whole peppercorns and vinegar; the recipe gives no quantities, so season the water to taste and add vinegar sparingly. Save the strained liquid, which is excellent stock.
Egg sauce (No. 462)In this period an egg sauce is generally a butter or light white sauce finished with chopped hard-boiled egg. A cup of bechamel with two chopped eggs, a squeeze of lemon and a little of the poaching liquid to loosen it will stand in for it.
Olive-shaped potatoesTurned potatoes, pared into small tapered ovals with a paring knife, then boiled. Small whole new potatoes are the honest substitute; the point is uniform pieces that hold their shape in water.
The napkinA folded linen napkin under the fish was standard nineteenth-century service; it soaks up the water that drains off and keeps the head from sliding, as well as dressing the platter.
YieldA head and collar from a ten-pound cod gives two to four servings as a course, depending on how willing the table is to pick at cheeks, tongue and the gelatinous flesh behind the eye.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the presence of a cod's head in it says something about how a nineteenth-century kitchen thought about value. The head, cheeks, tongue and collar were treated as delicacies rather than scraps: British and American cookbooks of the period routinely list "cod's head and shoulders" as a dinner dish, boiled and served with egg sauce or oyster sauce, and the cheek meat in particular was prized for its texture. The pairing of boiled cod with egg sauce is Anglo-American convention that Ranhofer has simply given a French name, and salt-cod cookery on both sides of the Atlantic had long used the same combination. What has changed is the supply: with Atlantic cod landed in smaller sizes and mostly filleted at sea, heads large enough for this treatment now turn up chiefly at whole-fish markets, though the cut remains standard eating in Iceland, Norway, Portugal and much of Asia.