Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [2]
I love the constant, almost throwaway, bits of information. How many cookery books tell you that 18 fathoms is 118 feet, that the Venetians invented double-entry bookkeeping, assume that the reader knows all about the great Brazilian balloonist Alberto Santos Dumont, tell you that akee is properly the name of a tree originally from West Africa, and was introduced to Jamaica from Guinea by Captain Bligh of the Bounty? (You must read on to find out more about its poisonous potential.) Who but Jane would know that Grimod de la Reynière discovered brandade? Do you know why red mullet is sometimes called sea woodcock? Because, like woodcock, the red mullet is cooked with its liver. You must read about the scavenging life of a shrimp and discover that tempura was originally brought to Japan by the Jesuit missionaries with Francis Xavier in the sixteenth century.
Jane destroys myths – John Dory cannot really be St Peter’s fish as John Dory is a salt water fish that could not survive in the Sea of Galilee. St Peter’s fish is more probably a kind of trout that flourishes in Galilee – ‘a pleasant but not outstanding fish’. Unfortunately, it has no finger marks nor a coin in its mouth.
At Leith’s School we divide into two camps – those of us who love coriander and those of us who hate it. Jane explains that to some people it can taste like soap and that this is a chemical effect and cannot be changed. I will now be much more sympathetic to those who loathe a herb I love.
Sole is one of her favourite fish. She writes sadly that its behaviour and lifestyle is not that interesting. ‘The most dramatic episode of its life is when the left eye of the perfectly normal, fish-shaped larva moves up and over the head to the right side, as the sole flattens into its characteristic shape.’ That is how to write about cooking, or anything else: clear, funny, interesting and learned. Don’t let me keep you from reading Jane Grigson’s work for another moment.
Caroline Waldegrave is closely involved with the Jane Grigson Trust, and is Managing Director of Leith’s School of Food and Wine, which she opened with Prue Leith in 1975. In May 1991 the proceeds of a Leith’s School fund-raising dinner were used to set up the Jane Grigson Library at Guildhall Library. Caroline Waldegrave was a member of the Health Education Authority from 1985 to 1988 and, as Chairman of the Guild of Food Writers for two years, until March 1993, she was actively involved in the Guild’s campaign to improve institutional food, specifically in hospitals. She is the author, or co-author with Prue Leith, of numerous cookery books. She is married to William Waldegrave MP; they have four children.
NOTE
The sections of this book that Jane Grigson revised before her death in 1990 are indicated by a dagger next to the chapter title. Although the chapters without a dagger were not revised by her, they have been updated to include material from her books and articles which were published after Fish Cookery first came out in 1973.
Asterisks that appear in the text refer to recipes in the chapter Court Bouillons, Batters, Butters & Sauces at the beginning of the book.
INTRODUCTION
The problem with a book on fish is how to stop writing it. To start with, there are fifty-two species of edible fish (including many different varieties) listed by the White Fish Authority. This does not include either shellfish or freshwater fish. It leaves out the extensive choice of cured fish, as well as fish imported from abroad to be sold to foreigners living and working here.
Think of this when you next visit your fishmonger. Count the choice of fish for sale. And count