Shad, Baked
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash, clean, scale, and dry the fish.
Prepare the forcemeat as directed and stuff it inside the fish, then sew up the opening.
Bake and serve
Place the fish in a baking dish, lay the bacon slices on top, and bake gently at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Serve with a suitable fish sauce or a tureen of good beef gravy.
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 and is the flesh that cooks through during baking.
- Bacon
- Lays fat over the fish as it bakes, adding moisture and savory browning to the surface.
- Veal forcemeat
- Fills the cavity with a moist, mild stuffing that helps keep the fish tender as it cooks.
The step that matters
Bake gently for the full time. Gentle heat lets the fish cook through evenly without drying out the outer flesh or toughening the forcemeat. Stopping early leaves the centre undercooked, while high heat dries 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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