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Broiled Bluefish, Anchovy Butter
Procure a three-pound piece very fresh bluefish, scale, trim off fins and remove all bones. Mix on a plate a tablespoon oil, teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper, repeatedly turn bluefish in seasoning, then arrange on a broiler and broil for six minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a hot dish, spread anchovy butter over, decorate with a little parsley greens, six quarters lemon, and serve.
A plain broiled fish with a compound butter, and it works exactly as written provided the fish is fresh and the heat is high. Two things need translating: the broiler and the anchovy butter, which the original assumes you already have on hand.
- "A broiler" means a gridironIn this period a hinged wire grid held over coals or set in the top of a coal range, cooking both sides in turn. Under a modern overhead broiler, set the rack about 4 inches from the element and preheat it fully; on a grill, use direct high heat and oil the grate.
- Six minutes a side is about rightSix minutes a side is plausible -- if the fish has been cut into fillets or a split side about an inch at the thickest point, 5 to 7 minutes a side under real heat will cook it through; a thicker piece will need longer. Bluefish is oily and forgiving of high heat but turns dry and strong-tasting if overcooked.
- Anchovy butterNot given in this entry, and assumed to be on hand. It is softened butter mashed with anchovy paste or minced anchovy fillets, roughly 1 tablespoon paste to 4 tablespoons butter, with a squeeze of lemon. Make it ahead, chill it, and put it on the fish in slices so it melts at the table.
- Remove all bonesEasier said than done on a whole bluefish. Ask for two skin-on fillets from a 3-lb fish, or buy a 3-lb piece of fillet outright; the pin bones near the head end pull out with pliers.
- Leave the skin onThe recipe says to scale, not skin, so the skin stays. That helps: bluefish skin crisps and holds the fillet together on the grid, where a skinned fillet will break up when turned.
- Freshness is not a flourish here"Very fresh" is the operative phrase. Bluefish has a high oil content that goes rancid and fishy within a day or two; it should smell of nothing but the sea.
- YieldThe six lemon quarters may indicate six portions. Three pounds of boned fish will stretch to six modest servings, or four as a main course.
Bluefish was one of the great cheap abundances of the American Atlantic coast, landed in quantity from New Jersey to New England and sold plentifully in summer. Its strong, oily flesh takes assertively salty seasoning well, which is why the anchovy butter is here rather than a delicate white sauce: the pairing follows the standard French logic of matching a compound butter to the character of the fish. Filippini's book belongs to that Delmonico's tradition of applying French method to whatever the American market offered, and broiling over coals with a seasoned butter suited a firm fish of this kind. The lemon quarters and the sprig of parsley are not garnish for its own sake but a finish for broiled fish service.