French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [161]
On the whole, though, dishes which are very simple in execution are those which also best preserve the natural tastes of the fish and at the same time present well. In no branch of cookery, I think, is the presentation of more importance than where fish dishes are concerned. It is so easy to be put off by a ragged-looking fish steak, a herring broken in the grilling or a clumsily fried trout. And a garnish of brightly coloured vegetables does little to redeem matters. Even a beautiful, and beautifully cooked, salmon trout will fail to arouse interest if it comes to table with its head and tail lolling over the ends of the dish and a sea of cucumber surging all round it. As to the last point, I cannot help wondering how long it will be before the various associations for the promotion of fish cookery in this country turn their attention to the utter lack of dishes suitable to the service of large fish.
What we need are long, narrow dishes especially designed to hold a whole fish and its juices, and, preferably, these dishes should be in plain white china, which seems to me to make the best background for fish. If the dishes were fireproof so much the better, and they should be available in three different sizes. Such dishes (although they were not fireproof) used to be made by English china manufacturers. I have some, and very nice they are; but they are no longer made, and one must search the second-hand shops and the market stalls for them. In a country in which the fishing industry is of the greatest importance this is, to say the least, odd.
LES POISSONS GRILLÉS
GRILLED FISH
Fish suitable for grilling under modern gas and electric grills are mackerel, herring, red mullet, grey mullet, sea-bream and sea-bass provided they are not too large, trout, sole; and salmon, eel and white fish cut into steaks.
For whole fish cleaned and scaled, make two or three slantwise incisions on each side, so that in cooking the heat will penetrate without the skins bursting, paint the fish with olive oil, rub them with salt, add a sprinkling of fresh herbs if you like, and cook them close to the grill to start with, then farther away once the skin has become crisp. There should be no necessity to turn them over more than once, but they will need a little basting with more oil during the cooking. They are done when you can see that the flesh is white right down to the bone.
Sole for grilling should be skinned on both sides, and should be grilled rather more gently than the fat type of fish. To make them less liable to dry up during cooking, they can be marinated for 30 minutes to an hour in a little olive oil and lemon juice, and then lightly coated with breadcrumbs, in which case no incisions should be made in the flesh. How sole is grilled in the majority of restaurants remains something of a mystery. It appears to be first steamed, then popped under a grill for a moment. Not a very satisfactory procedure.
Fish steaks for grilling should be well coated with oil and not cooked too close to the heat or the outer surfaces will become charred and dry; to minimise the risk of breakage, they should be turned only once during the cooking.
The cookers with capacious eye-level grills, introduced in recent years, are a blessing to those who feel that grilling is the best way to cook fish, and who have hitherto been hampered by a grill large enough for only two small fish at a time. There are also any number of separate grilling units, gas and electric, which can be installed independently of the cooker proper, and in the past