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Browned Pan Fish
Dress the fish and dust with salt and pepper. Roll in fine dry crumbs to which a little Argo or Kingsford's Cornstarch has been added-one tablespoon to a cup of crumbs. Pour enough Mazola in a medium-sized frying pan to barely cover the bottom and saute the fish in this, first on one side, then the other, taking care that they do not brown too rapidly. It should take about eight minutes for small fish like perch. Serve with a garnish of sliced lemon, water cress, or radish roses.
A straightforward pan-fry that survives intact; the only real work is translating the brand names and judging the heat.
- The branded ingredientsArgo and Kingsford's were both cornstarch labels owned by Corn Products Refining Company, whose products the book promotes throughout; any plain cornstarch does the same job. Mazola is corn oil, a relatively new cooking fat at the time — a neutral oil with a high smoke point works identically.
- Why cornstarch in the crumbsOne tablespoon per cup of dry crumbs is about a 1:16 ratio. The starch gelatinizes and then crisps, giving a drier, more brittle crust than crumbs alone and helping the coating cling to damp fish. It is worth keeping.
- "Dress the fish"Scale, gut, trim the fins and remove the head if you like; small panfish are cooked whole, bone in. Fillets work but will need closer to four to five minutes total.
- Pan temperature is the hinge"Taking care that they do not brown too rapidly" is the whole instruction. Keep the oil moderate: hot enough that the coating sets on contact, gentle enough that eight minutes brings the flesh to doneness at the bone before the crust darkens.
- Fat depth"Barely cover the bottom" means just a film of oil, a couple of tablespoons in an average skillet — this is sautéing, not shallow frying. Add a little more if the crumbs drink it up, or the second side will scorch dry.
- DonenessPanfish are done when the flesh parts from the backbone and turns opaque, about 145F. The recipe names only perch as its example of a small fish; anything much thicker than an inch wants a lower flame and a longer turn.
- Dry the fish firstNot stated in the original. Pat the fish dry before salting and crumbing so the coating holds in the pan.
- YieldThe recipe gives no number of servings. Judge by size of fish, and fry in batches rather than crowding the pan.
This comes from a corporate cookbook — Corn Products Refining Company promoted Argo and Kingsford's cornstarch alongside Mazola corn oil in the 1910s and 1920s, and books like this one existed to put both products into as many dishes as possible. That accounts for the slightly odd instruction to spike the breadcrumbs with cornstarch, though the trick genuinely works. Mazola, introduced in 1911, was marketed to American home cooks as a substitute for butter and lard, and much of the advertising of the period stressed that it was clean, odorless and would not carry flavors between foods. "Pan fish" is an old American term for any small freshwater fish that fits whole in a skillet — perch, sunfish, bluegill, crappie — a dish from a time when a meal was expected to include something substantial and fried, often whatever had been caught the day before.