The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: oyster
Directions
Prepare
Clean the fish thoroughly and rub a little coarse sea salt over the thick and inside of the fish, then let it rest 1 to 2 hours before cooking.
Cook
Place the fish in a fish kettle and add enough boiling water to cover it, being careful not to pour water directly on the fish.
Keep the water at a gentle simmer, adding more water from the side if it boils away.
Skim carefully and let it simmer until done, about 20 to 25 minutes depending on size.
Serve
Garnish with cut lemon and serve with either oyster or caper sauce.
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
- Provides the main body of the dish, cooked gently in simmering water until flaky.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the flesh and draws out surface moisture during the resting period.
The step that matters
Keeping the water at a gentle simmer. A hard boil can break up the delicate flakes of fish and make the flesh tough and ragged, so the water should stay below a rolling boil while the fish cooks through.
“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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