No. 1165

Haddock, Holland Style

Aiglefin a la Mode de Hollande

Cut slices from a haddock of a sufficient thickness to strike each joint of the spinal bone; put these into a glazed vessel for twenty-four hours with some fine salt; two hours before serving lay them in a fish kettle and pour over boiling water; keep it on the side of the range at a boiling degree until thoroughly cooked; dress, and garnish around with branches of parsley, and boiled potatoes; serve separately some melted butter.

← No. 1164 Haddock, Ancient Style Cod, Haddock & Halibut No. 1166 Finnan Haddies, Broiled Maitre d'Hotel and B →

For the Modern Kitchen

A brief dry salt cure followed by gentle poaching, in the plainest Northern European manner. Almost everything depends on keeping the water short of a real boil.

Never let it boilKeep it gentle -- "on the side of the range" means away from the direct heat, and the phrase "at a boiling degree" is best read as holding the water just at the point of boiling rather than at a rolling one. Haddock is a lean, flaky fish and vigorous boiling will shred the steaks and dry the flesh before the centre is set.
Cutting to the jointSlicing so that the knife strikes each joint of the spine spaces the cuts by the vertebrae, so thickness follows the size of the fish. Ask for haddock steaks cut across the bone rather than fillets; the bone and skin hold the slice together during poaching.
The saltingTwenty-four hours in fine salt in a glazed dish is a light cure for flavour and firmness, not preservation. Do it in the refrigerator, not a cool pantry, and rinse the steaks and pat them dry before they go into the kettle or the fish will be aggressively salty.
Glazed vesselGlazed earthenware was very likely chosen because salt attacks bare metal and unglazed clay absorbs it. Glass, ceramic or stainless steel does the same job; avoid aluminium and cast iron.
Fish kettleA long lidded pan with a perforated lifting rack. Any wide pan that holds the steaks in a single layer will serve, but you need something to lift them out intact -- a wide skimmer or a plate slid underneath.
Two hours before servingThe text has the fish going into the kettle two hours ahead and holding at heat; how much of that is cooking and how much is holding is not spelled out. Steaks of this kind are cooked through in roughly 10 to 15 minutes at a bare simmer, when the flesh parts cleanly from the bone.
Melted butterServed separately, this may mean simply warmed or drawn butter, or the older flour-thickened "melted butter" sauce of English and American tables; the recipe does not say which.
YieldReckon on one steak of 6 to 8 ounces per person; the recipe itself gives no yield, so let the size of the fish decide.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's, filled The Epicurean (1894) with national styles catalogued the way a reference book catalogues anything, and "a la mode de Hollande" here means the Dutch way with fish, which is to interfere with it as little as possible. Boiled haddock with parsley, plain potatoes and melted butter is close to the Dutch gekookte schelvis. Haddock was abundant and cheap on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1890s. The instruction to cut at the joints of the spine is the mark of a kitchen working from whole fish rather than portioned ones.