WAYS WITH FISH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 7 (Supplement)

WAYS WITH FISH

AVOID COOKERY PITFALLS Fish depends a great deal on the cooking —it can be dull, flat and uninteresting, but it can be delicious, digestible and nourishing. For example, boiled fish, . if overcooked, becomes father l ike "cottonwool. Fried fish, carelessly cooked, is soft and greasy insiead of being dry and crisp outside and moist and milky inside. Frying Fish.—Wash it, then thoroughly dry it with a cloth, flour it lightly, shake off any superfluous flour. The flour on the fish should look quite dry; if it is pasty and sticky you will know your fish was not dried sufficiently Well beat the egg on a plate, dip the fish into the egg, brushing it well over so that every part may be moist with egg. Have a sheet of kitchen paper full of fino breadcrumbs and quarter of a saltspoonful of salt to a breakfast cupful of crumbs, well cover the fish with crumbs, giving a little pat to make them adhere. See that the fat is boiling before the iish is put in, and rememher that fat is not boiling when it bubbles. When boiling it is quite still and a faint blue smoke rises from it. Fry a golden brown, drain on a sieve or on kitchen paper, dish on a paper doyley and garnisn with slices of lemon and fried parsley. Thin fillets of fish will take five minutes, thicker fillets and whole fish, ten to fifteen minutes. A frying basket makes draining and dishing very easy. Boiled Fish.—So much depends on the appearance of boiled fish. Great care must be taken not to break it. This is often done by pouring water on the fish. It is best to put the fish into the water and it must not be allowed to boil quickly. It is important to keep white fish perfectly white. To ensure this, rub it with a slice of lemon and carefully remove all scum as it rises. Take the strainer out of the fish kettle, put in enough water to cover the fish well, add salt- and vinegar. When quite hot, but not boiling, put the fish in on the strainer. Failing a strainer, it can be placed :in a thin muslin bag, otherwise it will be almost impossible to dish a large fish whole. Bring it just to boiling point, carefully removing the scum, then simmer until it is sufficiently cooked. Experience alone will teach the cook how long to boil fish, as it is- impossible to judge by the weight. Grilled Fish. —This needs care and some experience, as so often it is burnt outside and not sufficiently cooked inside. Bleep one gridiron entirely for fish and keep it absolutely clean. It is marvellous how the smell of what has been cooked previously will cling to a gridiron.