The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Clean the fish thoroughly and rub a little salt over the thick part and inside 1 to 2 hours before cooking to enhance flavor.
Place the fish in a fish kettle and cover it with cold water.
Poach
Add salt in the specified proportion and gradually bring it to a boil.
Skim carefully, then reduce heat and let it gently simmer until done, about 1 hour depending on size.
Keep the water just simmering; avoid pouring water directly on the fish to prevent breaking it.
If the water boils away, add more by pouring it in at the side of the kettle, not on the fish.
Serve
Remove the fish and drain it; serve on a hot napkin garnished with cut lemon and horseradish.
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.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cod head and shoulders (in the method)
- Firm, flaky flesh that holds together when gently simmered and becomes opaque as it cooks.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the fish and firms its flesh while it is cooked in the salted water.
The step that matters
Keep the water just simmering. A rolling boil agitates the fish and can break its flesh apart. Gentle heat cooks the fish evenly and keeps it whole, and water added at the side of the kettle avoids splashing the fish.
“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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