Fried Shad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Split the shad open and cut it into pieces three to four inches wide.
Sprinkle coarse sea salt over the shad.
Sift a little cornmeal over the shad.
Fry
Heat hot lard in a frying pan.
Fry the shad until brown, then turn it carefully to cook both sides.
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
- Shad
- Is the main fish, cooked through and browned in the hot lard.
- Cornmeal
- Forms a light, crisp coating that browns in the hot fat.
- Hot lard
- Fries the fish, conducting heat quickly to brown the surface and seal in moisture.
The step that matters
Turning the shad carefully. Shad pieces are delicate and the coating can break or stick if handled roughly. Letting the first side set and brown before turning keeps the crust intact and the flesh from tearing.
“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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