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Shad Roasted on a Board

A whole shad roasted on a heated oak board, seasoned with salt and served with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Shad Roasted on a Board

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the board

  1. Heat the oak board in front of the fire until very hot, almost charred.

Roast the shad

  1. Season the shad with salt and fasten it skin-side down to the hot board with small nails.

  2. Position the board before the fire with the head of the shad down.

  3. Once the juices begin to run, turn the shad with the tail down, turning frequently to retain juices.

Serve

  1. When done, butter the shad and serve it hot on the board.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through as the flesh firms in the heat.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the cooked fish at serving.

The step that matters

Turning the shad as juices begin to run. Turning at the moment juices start to run, and turning often, helps the fish keep its moisture as it cooks by a radiant fire, so the flesh does not dry out.

“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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