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 1-2 hours before cooking to enhance flavor.
Place the fish in a fish kettle and add enough cold water to cover it.
Poach
Add salt according to the 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.
Avoid pouring water directly on the fish to prevent breaking it; keep the water just simmering.
If the water boils away, add more by pouring it in at the side of the kettle.
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
- Is the main protein; it cooks gently in simmering water to become flaky and moist.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the fish and water, and the salt rubbed on the flesh firms its surface and seasons it.
The step that matters
Keep the water just simmering. At a hard boil the fish's proteins contract and the flesh breaks apart, so the fish stays whole and tender only when the water is held just below a boil.
“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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