The Myrtle Reed Cook Book

SALT FISH

With very, very few exceptions, fish and meats other than salt are not suitable for breakfast. So many delicious preparations of these are possible, however, that no one need lament the restriction which general use has made. The humble and lowly codfish may be made into many a dainty tidbit, – to make no invidious distinction, – and, for some occult reason, the taste craves salt in the morning.

Scrape and clean the fish, wipe dry and split, laying flat upon a buttered gridiron. Broil about six minutes, turning frequently. When brown, pour over melted butter. Serve with lemon quarters and parsley.

See Potomac Herring.

Cut into inch pieces a heaping cupful of salt codfish. Remove the bones, skin, and put into an earthen dish. Pour boiling water on and keep hot two hours. Pour off the water, cool, and shred the fish with the fingers. Add a heaping cupful of hot mashed potatoes. Mix a teaspoonful of flour with a heaping tablespoonful of butter, add three tablespoonfuls of boiling water, and cook until thick. Season with salt and pepper, mix with the fish and potato, and with floured hands form into eight small flat cakes. Dredge with flour and set away to be fried the following morning.

Two cupfuls of freshened and shredded fish, two cupfuls of sliced raw potatoes, one tablespoonful of butter, half a cupful of cream or milk, two eggs, and a sprinkle of white pepper. Put the potatoes in a pan, spread the fish on top, cover with cold water, and boil until the potatoes are done. Drain, mash together, then add the butter, pepper, milk, and beaten egg. Beat until very light. Shape into round balls the size of small apples, dredge in flour, and fry until brown in deep fat.

Prepare as Codfish Balls II, but use twice as much potato as fish.

Make codfish balls into flat cakes and just before serving, put a poached egg on each.

Pour boiling water on a cupful of salt codfish which has been shredded and had the bones removed. When the water cools, pour it off and cover with fresh boiling water. Drain again when the second water cools. Blend a tablespoonful of butter with a tablespoonful of flour, add a cupful of milk, and cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Add the codfish and a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley. Serve on toast and garnish with hard-boiled egg cut in slices. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Two cupfuls of shredded codfish, three cupfuls of milk, yolk of one egg, one tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoonfuls of flour, two quarts of water, pepper, and salt. Cover the fish with the water and set it over a slow fire. When it boils, drain it and cover with the milk. Bring to a boil again. Have the butter and flour rubbed smooth with a little cold milk and add to the boiling milk. Stir steadily till it thickens, then add the beaten yolk of the egg, and cook five minutes longer. Season with pepper. A little minced parsley may be added. Half an hour before the fish is shredded it should be put to soak in cold water, unless it is preferred very salt.

Brush the salt from a whole salted cod with a stiff brush. Place in a baking-pan and put in a hot oven until brown and crisp. Take out, lay on a board, and pound with a potato-masher till thoroughly bruised and broken. Place in the baking-pan, cover with boiling water, and soak twenty minutes. Drain, place on a platter, dot with butter, and put back into the oven till the butter sizzles. Take from the oven, pour over a cupful of cream, garnish with parsley, and serve.

Pick up a cupful of salt cod very fine, and freshen it. Mix with two cupfuls of mashed potato, two cupfuls of cream or milk, and two well-beaten eggs. Add half a cupful of melted butter and a little black pepper. Mix thoroughly, pile roughly in an earthen baking-dish or casserole, and bake twenty-five minutes in a hot oven. If it does not brown readily, brush the top with melted butter for the last five minutes of cooking.

Cut the fish in squares and soak over night. In the morning drain and rinse, cover with fresh boiling water, and simmer till tender. Spread on a platter and put in the oven. Make a drawn-butter sauce of one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour cooked till the mixture leaves the pan. Add one cupful of cold water, and stir constantly till the sauce is thick and smooth and free from lumps. Pour over the cod and serve. Minced parsley, a squeeze of lemon-juice, or a hard-boiled egg chopped fine may be added to the sauce.

Chop fine a pound of salted cod that has been freshened, boiled, and cooled. Mix a heaping teaspoonful of corn-meal with one cupful of milk, and stir over the fire until it thickens, then add one cupful of mashed potatoes, two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter, a teaspoonful of minced parsley, and two well-beaten eggs. Let it get very hot. Make the drawn-butter sauce with the egg in it, given in the recipe for New England Salt Cod, and serve with the sauce poured over.

Freshen the fish for twenty-four hours. Place over the fire in cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Put a little butter and a few sprigs of parsley in a frying-pan. Skim out the fish and put on a platter in the oven. When the butter is brown, pour over the fish and serve with lemon-quarters and fresh parsley.

Use the mixture for Codfish Balls II. Shape into cutlet form, – small tin moulds come for the purpose, – dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Stick a piece of macaroni in the small end of the cutlet, and garnish with a paper frill. Serve with lemon and parsley.

Select a piece of cod that has been boned. Brush the salt from it with a stiff brush and broil under the gas flame until brown. Lay in a baking-pan and pour over boiling water to cover. Let stand ten minutes, drain, and repeat the process. Drain, put on a hot platter, pour over melted butter, sprinkle with pepper and minced parsley.

Soak two pounds of fish over night. In the morning scrub it well, cover with slices of onion, pour boiling water over, and let it soak till the water is cool. Skim out, wipe, and broil. Put into a platter, break with a fork, and pour over a drawn-butter sauce seasoned with pepper, parsley, and lemon-juice. Keep in a hot oven five minutes before serving.

Make the mixture for Codfish Balls II. Add the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth, folding them in lightly. Butter a stoneware platter, spread the puff upon it, and bake in a hot oven till well puffed and browned. Or, cook in a buttered frying-pan till a brown crust has formed, then fold like an omelet.

Freshen, boil, and drain, according to directions previously given. Arrange on a platter and cover with cream sauce, which has minced parsley and chopped hard-boiled eggs mixed with it.

Make a Codfish Puff, sprinkle with grated cheese, and bake brown.

Make a cream sauce, using two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour; cook till they bubble, add a pint of milk, and stir till thick and smooth. Add a pound of Finnan Haddie flaked, and the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, three hard-boiled eggs cut fine, and a tablespoonful of strong cheese, grated. Season with black pepper, heat thoroughly, and serve.

Make the cream sauce, add the flaked Finnan Haddie, according to the recipe for Finnan Haddie à la Delmonico, add one half-cupful of shredded green peppers, let boil up once, and serve on toast.

Prepare as Codfish Balls II.

Parboil, drain, wipe, then skin. Broil, pour over melted butter, sprinkle with pepper and minced parsley. Serve with lemon quarters.

Cut the fish in convenient pieces for serving. Cover with boiling water, boil five minutes, drain, and rinse in fresh boiling water. Arrange on a platter, dot with butter, put in the oven, and when the butter sizzles, serve.

See Creamed Roast Codfish.

Soak in cold water half an hour, and in boiling water ten minutes. Wipe dry, marinade in oil and lemon-juice, and broil as usual.

Put the haddock into a baking-pan, cover with boiling water, drain, dot with butter, sprinkle with black pepper, and bake in a hot oven for ten minutes. Serve very hot.

Rub with butter, dredge with flour, and broil over clear coals, or under a gas flame.

Cover with olive oil and soak over night. Skim out and fry brown in the oil. Pepper well and serve at once with lemon quarters and a garnish of parsley.

Partly boil bloaters or herrings, skin, add an equal bulk of mashed potatoes made from baked potatoes. Add a lump of butter and enough cream to soften it. Form into balls, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat.

Those having roe are preferable. Put into a frying-pan with boiling water to cover, boil five minutes, drain, add a lump of butter, and return to the fire. When it melts, and the fish is well covered with it, serve.

See Potomac Herring.

Soak over night. Pour boiling water over it in the morning; when the water cools, plunge it into ice water for five minutes, wipe dry, and broil under a gas flame.

Wash in several waters, remove the head and part of the tail. Scrape the thin black skin from the inside. Put the fish in a pan of cold water, skin side up, over night at least, and, if very salt, by four o’clock in the afternoon. In the morning wash in fresh cold water, wipe dry on a clean cloth, rub with melted butter, sprinkle with pepper, and broil carefully. It must be watched every moment, as it burns easily. When brown, serve on a hot platter, dot the fish with bits of butter, and garnish with parsley and lemon quarters.

Freshen according to directions previously given. Put in cold water, bring to a boil, then drain. Pour over it half a cupful of cream. Roll a piece of butter the size of an egg in flour and add to the cream. Let boil up once and serve.

Freshen according to directions previously given, rinse thoroughly. Tie in a cloth, put into a kettle of cold water, bring slowly to the boil, and cook half an hour. Remove the cloth, take out the backbone, and pour over melted butter and half a cupful of cream. Sprinkle with black pepper and garnish with parsley.

Prepare as above. Heat a cupful of milk to the boil. Stir into it a teaspoonful of cornstarch made smooth with a little cold milk. When it thickens, add two tablespoonfuls of butter, and a little pepper, salt and minced parsley. Beat an egg very light, pour the sauce gradually over it, reheat for about a minute. Pour over the fish and garnish with slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Freshen according to directions previously given. Put into a baking-pan and pour on boiling water to cover. When the water cools, drain. Cover the fish with dots of butter, pour over half a cupful of cream or milk, and bake till brown.

Freshen according to directions previously given, soaking a full twenty-four hours and changing the water frequently. In the morning, drain, wipe dry, dredge with flour, and fry brown in butter. Garnish with lemon quarters and parsley.

Freshen, and boil in water made very acid with lemon-juice. Serve with melted or drawn butter.

Freshen, wipe dry, and soak for an hour in French dressing, made of three tablespoonfuls of olive oil, and one of lemon-juice or tarragon vinegar. Broil as usual.

Soak the salmon twenty-four hours in cold water, changing the water frequently. Drain, wipe dry, rub with butter, and broil over a clear fire. Serve with melted butter. Garnish with lemon quarters and parsley.

Rub with butter and broil with the flesh side nearest the fire. Serve on a hot platter with lemon quarters, melted butter, and parsley.

Cut the salmon into strips, rub very lightly with butter, sprinkle with pepper, and broil as usual.

See Fried Smoked Haddock.

Wash a piece of smoked salmon in three or four waters, parboil fifteen minutes. Skim out, wipe dry, rub with butter, and broil. Cover with melted butter, sprinkle with pepper and minced parsley, and garnish with lemon quarters.

Wash and parboil the salmon, drain, wipe, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry. Serve with lemon quarters and parsley.

Roughly speaking, the recipes for salt fish are interchangeable. A method of cooking recommended for one will be found equally good for some of the others.

Salt fish left-overs may be used in hash, scrambles, omelets or ramekin dishes, or reheated, rubbed to a paste, and served on toast, with a poached egg on each slice.

BREAKFAST MEATS

One cupful of cooked chopped beef, one cupful of cold mashed potatoes, half a cupful of milk, two tablespoonfuls of butter, and one egg. Put the milk and butter in the frying-pan; when it boils up, add the beef and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then add the egg, well beaten, and take from the fire. Let cool. When stiff, shape into small flat cakes, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and put in a cool place. Fry in hot fat for three minutes. These can be prepared beforehand.