The Court-bouillons and the Marinades

1. Court-bouillon must always be prepared in advance for all fish, the time for poaching which is less than half an hour, except turbots and brills.

2. When a fish is of such a size as to need more than half an hour’s poaching, proceed as follows:—Place under the drainer of the fish-kettle the minced carrots and onions and the faggot; put the fish on the drainer, and cover it with water and vinegar, or white wine, in accordance with the kind of court-bouillon wanted and the quantity required. Add the salt, boil, and keep the court-bouillon gently simmering for a period of time fixed by the weight of the fish. The time allowed for poaching the latter will be given in their respective formulæ.

3. Fish, when whole, should be immersed in cold court-bouillon; when sliced, in the same liquor, boiling. The exceptions to this rule are small trout “au bleu” and shell-fish.

4. If fish be cooked in short liquor the aromatics are put under the drainer and the liquid elements of the selected court-bouillon (as, for example, that with red or white wine) are so calculated as to cover only one-third of the solid body. Fish cooked in this way should be frequently basted.

5. Court-bouillon for ordinary and spiny lobsters should always be at full boiling pitch when these are immersed. The case is the same for small or medium fish “au bleu.”

6. Fish which is to be served cold, also shell-fish, should cool in the court-bouillon itself; the cooking period is consequently curtailed.

Marinades play but a small part in English cookery, venison or other ground-game being generally preferred fresh. However, in the event of its being necessary to resort to these methods of preparation, I shall give two formulæ for venison and two for mutton.

The use of the marinade for venison is very much debated. Certainly it is often desirable that the fibre of those meats that come from old specimens of the deer and boar species be softened, but there is no doubt that what the meat gains in tenderness it loses in flavour. On the whole, therefore, it would be best to use only those joints which come from young beasts.

In the case of the latter, the marinade may well be dispensed with. It would add nothing to the savour of a haunch of venison, such as may be got in England, while it would be equally ineffectual in the case of the roebuck or hare. A summary treatment of these two, with raw marinade, may well be adopted, as also for deer.

As for cooked marinade, its real and only use lies in the fact that during stormy summer weather it enables one to preserve meat which would otherwise have to be wasted. It may, moreover, be used for braised venison, but this treatment of game is very uncommon nowadays.