James Beard's New Fish Cookery (50 page)

VARIATION

Prepare the snails as above and add 1/2 cup of white wine to the pan in which you heat them.

SNAILS BOURGUIGNONNE (WITH FRESH SNAILS)

Soak the snails until they come out of their shells and put them in salted water or court bouillon (see above). After you have brought this to a boil, remove them from their shells and rinse them with a little cold water or white wine. Wash the shells, and then follow the preceding recipe for canned snails.

SNAILS LASSERE

48 mushroom caps (medium size, about 1 inch across)

6 tablespoons butter

Snail butter (above)

48 snails

2/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Fried toast

Sauté the mushroom caps in butter until just slightly tender. Prepare the snail butter. Arrange the mushrooms, cup side up, on a baking sheet. Place a snail in each mushroom cup, cover with a little snail butter, and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Cook in a 400° oven for about 10 minutes, or until thoroughly heated through. Serve on fried toast.

FRESH SNAILS POULETTE

Fresh snails

White wine and water mixed

1 large onion stuck with 2 cloves

1 bay leaf

Pinch of thyme

3 medium onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

8 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Prepare the fresh snails as for snails Bourguignonne with fresh snails (page 474). After you have removed them from the boiling salted water, transfer them to a mixture of half white wine and half water. Add the onion stuck with cloves, the bay leaf, and the thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes. Sauté the onions and garlic in 6 tablespoons of the butter until they are soft but not browned. When the snails are tender, remove them from the bouillon, and keep them hot in their shells in a hot serving dish.

Remove the onion and bay leaf from the bouillon and taste for seasoning. Add the sautéed onions, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes. Make beurre manié by kneading the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons of flour. Mix the heavy cream with the egg yolks; add the beurre manié and the cream-egg mixture to the broth. Stir until well blended and thickened, but do not let it boil. Add the lemon juice and chopped parsley and pour over the snails. Serve with plenty of hot French bread.

Turtle, Tortoise, and Terrapin

Turtles come in many different sorts, sizes, and colors, and once the word
turtle
covered all of them. Now some people restrict the term just to the sea turtles. A
tortoise
is a turtle that prefers the land, and a
terrapin
is a variety of turtle that inhabits rivers and coastal swamps along the Eastern seaboard and the Gulf.

Green turtle is the most famous of sea turtles, and the turtle soup that comes from it is extraordinary. If you have never tasted thick, gelatinous turtle soup, freshly made, then you have a great treat awaiting you. The canned green turtle soup is also excellent. Look for brands with turtle fat or meat in the jar or tin; add a little Madeira or sherry to the soup, heat, and serve with a thin slice of lemon and finely chopped parsley.

Commercial fishing for green turtle is centered around Key West, and turtle steak is much fancied in the South. I have eaten it when it resembled the finest veal. Also delicious is turtle liver, which, ideally, should be sautéed in butter with shallots and parsley. Neither steak nor liver reaches the markets very often, so there is not much use longing for them.

Diamondback terrapin has always had enthusiasts in the Eastern part of the country. It was expensive even around the turn of the century — about $120 a dozen. Now it is very scarce, and red-bellied turtle is marketed in Eastern cities as a substitute. Snapper turtle, which is found all through the East in lakes, rivers, and canals, is very popular in some areas, especially eastern Pennsylvania.

TURTLE STEAK FLORIDIAN

Have 11/2 pounds of turtle cut paper-thin. Pound the steaks with the edge of a plate. Dip them in flour. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a skillet that has a cover, and brown the pieces of turtle very quickly. Salt and pepper them to taste and add 1 tablespoon paprika. Pour over them 1/2 cup white wine, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the pieces of turtle to a hot platter. Add 1 cup sour cream to the pan and stir well until it is heated through and blended. Pour the sauce over the turtle steaks and sprinkle with paprika and chopped parsley.

TERRAPIN MARYLAND

Terrapin is a food that people either like tremendously or dislike violently. If you can stand the rather unique odor, you may enjoy it. To me, terrapin is offensive.

For this recipe, 1 terrapin will serve 3 people.

Bring a kettle of water to a rolling boil and toss the terrapin in alive. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Remove it from the water and rub it with a coarse towel — preferably a Turkish towel — to take the skin off the feet and head. Cook it in boiling salted water until the feet fall off and the shell is cracked. Remove it from the water and place it on its back.

When it is cool enough to handle, draw the nails from the feet. Cut under the shell and remove the meat. Be careful in removing the gall bladder, the sandbags, and the large intestines. These are to be discarded. Cut the meat into 1-to-2-inch strips. Cut up the liver and the small intestines and add them to the meat. Add the eggs, if there are any. Add 3/4 cup of the broth and simmer for 25 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons butter, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Combine a little of the broth with 2 slightly beaten egg yolks and stir it in carefully. Add 1/4 cup of Madeira or sherry to the mixture just before serving.

VARIATION

Terrapin, Philadelphia Style.
Cut the meat very fine, add the broth, and simmer for 25 minutes. Make 1 cup of velouté (page 21) with some of the broth and cream. Add this to the terrapin. Beat 2 egg yolks with 1/2 cup cream, and stir this into the mixture slowly. Do not let it boil. Add sherry or Madeira just before serving. You may add 1 cup sautéed mushrooms if you wish.

SOUTHERN TERRAPIN STEW

Boil and pick 3 terrapin according to the directions given above. Strain and clarify the stock and add a little concentrated turtle broth to it.

Rub the yolks of 6 hard-cooked eggs through a sieve and combine them with 3 tablespoons flour and 1/2 pound butter to form a paste. Season with 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, 2 tablespoons grated onion, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, the grated rind of 1 orange, and the juice of 1 lemon. Heat 3 cups of turtle broth until boiling, stir in the seasoned paste, reduce the heat and continue stirring until well blended. Add 1 cup Madeira and 1 pint heavy cream and continue stirring until the mixture is thickened and smooth. Be careful not to burn or curdle it. Add the heated terrapin eggs, the meat, and the chopped whites of the 6 hard-cooked eggs. Heat thoroughly and taste for seasoning. Serve with hot buttered toast.

TURTLE FINS

The flippers or fins of the sea turtle are excellent eating. They must be simmered in boiling water until tender and then skinned. After this initial preparation they can be prepared in various ways:

1. Dip the fins in seasoned flour and brown them in butter or oil. When they are nicely browned, add a little white wine and a pinch each of tarragon and fennel. Simmer until tender.

2. Dip in seasoned flour and brown in butter or oil. When brown add white wine and sauce à l’Américaine (page 28). Simmer until tender.

3. Brown the turtle fins as above, add white wine and simmer until nearly done. At the last add a little sauce Mornay (page 22), sprinkle with grated cheese, and run under the broiler to brown.

SNAPPER TURTLE SOUP

Cut off the head of a 10-pound snapper turtle and let it bleed. Wash it thoroughly, scrubbing it with a stiff brush. Run a sharp knife around each shell, pull out the legs, pull the shells open, and extract the meat.

To the shell, skin, and bones of the turtle, add several veal knuckles cracked into pieces. Place this mixture in a large ovenproof pan with 1 cup butter, 2 or 3 chopped onions, several stalks of celery chopped, several chopped carrots, a pinch of thyme, 1 bay leaf, 4 cloves, and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Roast in a hot oven until brown. Stir in 1 cup flour and cook for 30 minutes longer.

Place this mixture in a large kettle, add 3 quarts beef broth and 2 cups canned tomatoes, strained. Simmer for 2 hours. Strain the broth. Cut the turtle meat into small pieces and add these to the strained broth. Add 1 cup sherry and simmer for 10 minutes or until the turtle meat is tender. Taste for seasoning. Serve garnished with chopped hard-cooked egg and lemon slices.

MINORCA GOPHER STEW

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in her book
Cross Creek Cookery
has a mouthwatering recipe for what she calls gopher (turtle) stew:

“Wash the decapitated gopher. Cut the shell away from the meat. Scald the feet until the skin and claws can be removed. Discard entrails. Cut meat in two-inch pieces. Simmer until thoroughly tender in two cups water to every cup of meat, adding one half teaspoon salt and a dash of pepper to every cup of meat.

“In a deep kettle or Dutch oven, heat fat, preferably olive oil, allow one quarter cup of fat to every cup of meat. Brown in fat one large chopped onion to every cup of meat, one small can of tomatoes and one green pepper, finely cut. Simmer gently while gopher is cooking. More tomatoes may be added if mixture cooks down too much. When gopher is tender, turn the sauce into the gopher pot. There should be enough liquid to make plenty of gravy. Thicken by mashing the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, two eggs to every cup of meat, and stirring into the stew. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Stir in three tablespoons dry sherry to every cup of meat. Serve at once, preferably directly from pot.

“Thin corn sticks make a good bread to serve with the stew, and spring onions, ripe olives and a green salad usually accompany it.”

TURTLE EGGS

Turtle eggs are a rare delicacy and hard to get, but if you ever happen to come on some, here is what Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings has to say about them:

“They are boiled in heavily salted water for twenty minutes. The white never solidifies, but the hard-boiled yolk is rich, rather grainy, with a fine and distinct flavor. They are eaten ‘out of hand,’ from the shell, breaking off the top of the shell, dotting the egg with salt and pepper and butter, and popping the contents of the shell directly into the mouth. A dozen turtle eggs, with plain bread and butter and a glass of ale, make all I ask of a light luncheon or supper.”

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See page 309.
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Note: Add the eggshells and egg whites, and over high heat beat constantly with a wire whisk until the aspic reaches a boil. Then turn off the heat and let the aspic settle for approximately 10 minutes. Strain, very carefully, through a sieve lined with a linen towel, being sure not to disturb the liquid as it drips through the towel (this can cause the aspic to cloud).
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Young haddock, pollock, and other similar fish are also often called scrod.
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Some people claim there is no turbot in American waters, but it is sometimes caught off the coast of Oregon.
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This dish is often made with other fish, such as cod, haddock, or finnan haddie.
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Saltpeter is no longer available commercially, but may be obtained on prescription from your local pharmacist. It is not essential to this recipe, but if obtainable should be used.
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There are long fish boilers which are especially adapted to this form of cookery. If you do much fish cooking they are a fine addition to your kitchen.
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From
goujon,
a tiny freshwater fish popular in France.
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In California, however, striped bass is a game fish and is not available commercially.
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Since the original writing of this book, caviar has become increasingly costly and, regrettably, has thus moved further and further from our purses.
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Mussels, like clams, sometimes need no additional salt.
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Since some oysters need no additional salt in preparation, I have not included salt in many of the recipes that follow. I feel that the individual should season to suit his own particular taste.
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“Just about all the information you’ll ever need to know about choosing and cooking fish is in this cookbook.”

—Houston Post