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To Boil Cod Fish

A boiled cod fish prepared with salt, saltpetre, and served with liver, roe, horseradish, and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Cod Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash the fish thoroughly, cleansing the inside and backbone.

  2. Place the fish in a fish-kettle and cover it with cold water mixed with five ounces of salt per gallon and about a quarter ounce of saltpetre per whole.

Boil and drain

  1. Place the kettle over a moderate fire, clear off the scum, and let the fish boil gently until done.

  2. Drain the fish by setting the fish plate across the kettle for a minute or two, then dish it carefully onto a very hot napkin with liver and roe as garnish.

  3. Add tufts of lightly scraped horseradish around the edge.

Serve

  1. Serve with well-made oyster sauce and plain melted butter, or anchovy sauce if oysters are unavailable.

  2. Optionally, serve with the cream sauce of Chapter V.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The step that matters

Gentle boiling after the scum is cleared. A rolling boil breaks the delicate fish flesh apart and makes it tough and ragged. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer cooks the fish evenly through and keeps the flakes intact.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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