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Fresh Herring, Anchovy Butter
Neatly trim, draw and wipe three fresh, medium herrings. Season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper, then roll in a tablespoon oil; arrange on a broiler and broil for six minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a hot dish, spread an anchovy butter over the fish, decorate with six pieces lemon and serve.
A whole-fish grill of the plainest sort, written for a coal or gas broiler with the fish laid in a hinged wire basket. Two things need filling in: the anchovy butter, which the book assumes you can make, and the timing.
- The anchovy butter is not givenA common proportion is roughly 4 oz softened butter mashed with 6 to 8 anchovy fillets (or 2 teaspoons anchovy paste) and a squeeze of lemon, then chilled, though recipes of the era vary. Cut coins from a chilled log and lay them on the hot fish so they melt at the table rather than spreading soft butter that slides off.
- Broiling timeSix minutes a side suits the slower, further-off heat of a period broiler. Under a modern gas or electric broiler set high, a medium herring of 8 to 10 oz wants 3 to 4 minutes a side; the flesh should just part from the backbone at the thickest point. Overcooked herring dries out fast because the oil renders away.
- "Draw" the fishGut and remove the gills; scales come off easily with the back of a knife under running water, working tail to head. Score the flanks two or three times on each side to keep the skin from splitting and to help the heat reach the middle.
- The broiler rackThe "broiler" here is most likely a double-sided hinged wire grid turned over the coals, though the word was also used for a plain gridiron and later for the oven's broiling element. Its modern equivalent is a fish basket on a grill, or a preheated foil-lined pan under the broiler element. Oil the rack, not just the fish, or the skin will weld to it.
- SaltA teaspoon of salt across three fish, before an anchovy butter that is itself salty, is on the heavy side. Season the cavities lightly and let the butter carry the rest.
- BonesHerring carries a dense set of fine pin bones along the flanks. Serving them whole is traditional; if that will not suit the table, have them butterflied by the fishmonger and broil skin side up only, about 4 minutes.
- YieldThree fish, three servings, as a main course with bread and boiled potatoes.
Herring was the cheap fish of northern Europe for centuries, salted and barrelled by the million to feed inland populations through winter, and the arrival of fresh herring in season was a genuine event on the coast and in cities served by rail. The pairing here with anchovy butter looks more like a Victorian and Edwardian restaurant habit than a folk one, though the line is not a firm one: compound butters worked with anchovy, maitre d'hotel herbs or shallot were a standard finish for grilled fish on hotel menus, and cookbooks of the era list them as a reference set the reader is expected to know by heart. The dish belongs to the general run of plain grills, where the technique matters more than the nationality; an oily fish like herring takes hard, direct heat well, since its own fat bastes it.