The Book of Household Management Part 26

CODFISH.

231. Cod may be boiled whole; but a large head and shoulders are quite sufficient for a dish, and contain all that is usually helped, because, when the thick part is done, the tail is insipid and overdone. The latter, cut in slices, makes a very good dish for frying; or it may be salted down and served with egg sauce and parsnips. Cod, when boiled quite fresh, is watery; salting a little, renders it firmer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE COD.]

THE COD TRIBE.--The Jugular, characterized by bony gills, and ventral fins before the pectoral ones, commences the second of the Linnaean orders of fishes, and is a numerous tribe, inhabiting only the depths of the ocean, and seldom visiting the fresh waters. They have a smooth head, and the gill membrane has seven rays. The body is oblong, and covered with deciduous scales. The fins are all inclosed in skin, whilst their rays are unarmed. The ventral fins are slender, and terminate in a point.

Their habits are gregarious, and they feed on smaller fish and other marine animals.

COD'S HEAD AND SHOULDERS.

232. INGREDIENTS.--Sufficient water to cover the fish; 5 oz. of salt to each gallon of water.

_Mode_.--Cleanse the fish thoroughly, and rub a little salt over the thick part and inside of the fish, 1 or 2 hours before dressing it, as this very much improves the flavour. Lay it in the fish-kettle, with sufficient cold water to cover it. Be very particular not to pour the water on the fish, as it is liable to break it, and only keep it just simmering. If the water should boil away, add a little by pouring it in at the side of the kettle, and not on the fish. Add salt in the above proportion, and bring it gradually to a boil. Skim very carefully, draw it to the side of the fire, and let it gently simmer till done. Take it out and drain it; serve on a hot napkin, and garnish with cut lemon, horseradish, the roe and liver. (_See_ Coloured Plate C.)

_Time_.--According to size, 1/2 an hour, more or less. _Average cost_, from 3s. to 6s.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_ from November to March.

_Note_.--Oyster sauce and plain melted b.u.t.ter should be served with this.

TO CHOOSE COD.--The cod should be chosen for the table when it is plump and round near the tail, when the hollow behind the head is deep, and when the sides are undulated as if they were ribbed. The glutinous parts about the head lose their delicate flavour, after the fish has been twenty-four hours out of the water. The great point by which the cod should be judged is the firmness of its flesh; and, although the cod is not firm when it is alive, its quality may be arrived at by pressing the finger into the flesh. If this rises immediately, the fish is good; if not, it is stale. Another sign of its goodness is, if the fish, when it is cut, exhibits a bronze appearance, like the silver side of a round of beef. When this is the case, the flesh will be firm when cooked.

Stiffness in a cod, or in any other fish, is a sure sign of freshness, though not always of quality. Sometimes, codfish, though exhibiting signs of rough usage, will eat much better than those with red gills, so strongly recommended by many cookery-books. This appearance is generally caused by the fish having been knocked about at sea, in the well-boats, in which they are conveyed from the fishing-grounds to market.

SALT COD, COMMONLY CALLED "SALT-FISH."

233. INGREDIENTS.--Sufficient water to cover the fish.

_Mode_.--Wash the fish, and lay it all night in water, with a 1/4 pint of vinegar. When thoroughly soaked, take it out, see that it is perfectly clean, and put it in the fish-kettle with sufficient cold water to cover it. Heat it gradually, but do not let it boil much, or the fish will be hard. Skim well, and when done, drain the fish and put it on a napkin garnished with hard-boiled eggs cut in rings.

_Time_.--About 1 hour. _Average cost_, 6d. per lb.

_Seasonable_ in the spring.

_Sufficient_ for each person, 1/4 lb.

_Note_.--Serve with egg sauce and parsnips. This is an especial dish on Ash Wednesday.

PRESERVING COD.--Immediately as the cod are caught, their heads are cut off. They are then opened, cleaned, and salted, when they are stowed away in the hold of the vessel, in beds of five or six yards square, head to tail, with a layer of salt to each layer of fish. When they have lain in this state three or four days, in order that the water may drain from them, they are shifted into a different part of the vessel, and again salted.

Here they remain till the vessel is loaded, when they are sometimes cut into thick pieces and packed in barrels for the greater convenience of carriage.

COD SOUNDS.

Should be well soaked in salt and water, and thoroughly washed before dressing them. They are considered a great delicacy, and may either be broiled, fried, or boiled: if they are boiled, mix a little milk with the water.

COD SOUNDS, EN POULE.

234. INGREDIENTS.--For forcemeat, 12 chopped oysters, 3 chopped anchovies, 1/4 lb. of bread crumbs, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 eggs; seasoning of salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mace to taste; 4 cod sounds.

_Mode_.--Make the forcemeat by mixing the ingredients well together.

Wash the sounds, and boil them in milk and water for 1/2 an hour; take them out and let them cool. Cover each with a layer of forcemeat, roll them up in a nice form, and skewer them. Rub over with lard, dredge with flour, and cook them gently before the fire in a Dutch oven.

_Time_.--1 hour. _Average cost_, 6d. per lb.

_Seasonable_ from November to March. _Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

THE SOUNDS IN CODFISH.--These are the air or swimming bladders, by means of which the fishes are enabled to ascend or descend in the water. In the Newfoundland fishery they are taken out previous to incipient putrefaction, washed from their slime and salted for exportation. The tongues are also cured and packed up in barrels; whilst, from the livers, considerable quant.i.ties of oil are extracted, this oil having been found possessed of the most nourishing properties, and particularly beneficial in cases of pulmonary affections.

COD PIE.

(_Economical_.)

I.

235. INGREDIENTS.--Any remains of cold cod, 12 oysters, sufficient melted b.u.t.ter to moisten it; mashed potatoes enough to fill up the dish.

_Mode_.--Flake the fish from the bone, and carefully take away all the skin. Lay it in a pie-dish, pour over the melted b.u.t.ter and oysters (or oyster sauce, if there is any left), and cover with mashed potatoes.

Bake for 1/2 an hour, and send to table of a nice brown colour.

_Time_.--1/2 hour.

_Seasonable_ from November to March.

II.

236. INGREDIENTS.--2 slices of cod; pepper and salt to taste; 1/2 a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 large blade of pounded mace, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1/2 pint of stock No. 107, a paste crust (_see_ Pastry). For sauce, 1 tablespoonful of stock, 1/4 pint of cream or milk, thickening of flour or b.u.t.ter; lemon-peel chopped very fine to taste; 12 oysters.

_Mode_.--Lay the cod in salt for 4 hours, then wash it and place it in a dish; season, and add the b.u.t.ter and stock; cover with the crust, and bake for 1 hour, or rather more. Now make the sauce, by mixing the ingredients named above; give it one boil, and pour it into the pie by a hole made at the top of the crust, which can easily be covered by a small piece of pastry cut and baked in any fanciful shape--such as a leaf, or otherwise.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. _Average cost_, with fresh fish, 2s. 6d.

_Seasonable_ from November to March.

_Sufficient_ for 6 persons.

_Note_.--The remains of cold fish may be used for this pie.

CURRIED COD.

237. INGREDIENTS.--2 slices of large cod, or the remains of any cold fish; 3 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 onion sliced, a teacupful of white stock, thickening of b.u.t.ter and flour, 1 small teaspoonful of curry-powder, 1/4 pint of cream, salt and cayenne to taste.

_Mode_.--Flake the fish, and fry it of a nice brown colour with the b.u.t.ter and onions; put this in a stewpan, add the stock and thickening, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir the curry-powder into the cream; put it, with the seasoning, to the other ingredients; give one boil, and serve.