Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [102]
Boil down the cooking juices to a good concentration: you should end up with approximately 250 ml (8 fl oz). Remove about a third – this is your safety valve. Mix the cream with the egg yolks and stir them into the hot juices, off the stove. Put the pan back over a low heat for the sauce to thicken slightly without any risk of boiling. Add small cubes of the remaining butter and splashes of the concentrated cooking liquor that you removed. You may well not need the full quantity of either – go for a flavour that pleases you.
Pour the sauce round the fish – or else arrange the fillets on top of a pool of sauce, if you like the modern style, on individual plates – and scatter the shreds of peel on top.
If you have been able to get samphire, add some of the steamed tips (the unstringy part). Their saltiness goes well with the sauce and the fish.
PESCE BOLITO CON MAIONNESE
Choose one large John Dory or two smaller fish. Remember that the firm flesh is substantial, and so is the mayonnaise, so you will not need a large quantity.
Serves 6
2 kg (4 lb) fish
court bouillon, no 1*
mayonnaise, made with 3 egg yolks and 500 ml (15 fl oz) light olive oil or mixed olive and groundnut oils*
2 teaspoons gelatine
3 tablespoons hot water
Put the fish into a cold court bouillon, and bring it to boiling point over a moderate heat. Let it shudder for a moment or two, then remove from the stove and let it cool to tepid. Now drain and skin the fish. Divide the fillets into portions and place them on a wire rack, over a baking tray. Make the mayonnaise and put half into a serving bowl. Melt the gelatine in the hot water, and as it cools to an egg-white consistency fold it into the remaining mayonnaise. Cover the fish with this mixture and put a chaste decoration or two in place – a sprig of tarragon, some capers. When the jellied mayonnaise has set, put the pieces of fish on to a serving plate, on leaves of crisp lettuce. Serve chilled, accompanied by the remaining half of the mayonnaise.
KING MACKEREL see MACKEREL
LING see COD
LOBSTERS & CRAWFISH
Homarus gammarus & Palinurus elephas
A fourteenth-century German painter, Master Bertram, who lived at Hamburg and who should therefore have known better, included a ready-boiled lobster in his painting of God creating the animals. The sturgeon and other creatures look perfectly alive and clear-eyed – but there is the lobster at the bottom of the painting flat on the ground and ready for the table.
I suppose that most of us do think of lobsters as red. (Red-coated soldiers used to be known as lobsters, although the term really started as a name for cuirassiers with shiny breastplates like the lobster’s carapace.) In fact they are a dark blueish colour, which is more suitable for the rocky parts of the sea they choose to live in. It is in this state that you should buy lobster, if you want to taste it at its best. The trouble is that it usually means ordering in advance from the fishmonger. It is less trouble all round to buy one ready-boiled, and if the fishmonger has a good turnover and if you are a regular customer, you will probably not regret it. I have the feeling, though, that as lobster is one of the best things to eat in the world, and as it is one of the most expensive, too, it should only be eaten at its best and in the peak of condition. Otherwise disappointment and financial loss are too disillusioning. This means that one should, ideally, find a seaside town where lobsters are caught, and make an expedition, an occasion if you like, which will become part of one’s family ritual. Luxuries should be enjoyed with a little ceremony: deep-frozen lobster is a kind of denial, a bringing-down of excellence.
The season for fresh lobsters is from April or May to October, although many fishermen store them in tanks and caves until