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Category: Fish and Shellfish

A bowl of clam chowder
Making Seafood Soups and Chowders

Making Seafood Soups and Chowders

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Seafood was common and cheap on the East Coast during the early part of the 1800s. But overharvesting and overfishing made them scarcer and expensive. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS OYSTER BOUILLONBring to the boil in their own liquor a quart of oysters. Skim out the oysters, chop fine, and return to the liquor. Add a quart of water, a teaspoon of celery seed, and a tablespoon of butter. Simmer for half an hour, strain through cheese-cloth, season with…

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Fresh seafood and fish
Interesting Fish and Seafood Salads

Interesting Fish and Seafood Salads

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When I think of seafood salad, I envision a lettuce based salad with shrimp or crab. In the 1800s, unless you lived near the coast, seafood was canned. Commercial canned food became available in Maine in the 1840s. Lobster today is a luxury food, but lobster was was a cheap food and extremely popular once available in cans. As late as the 1850s, canned lobster sold for just 11 cents a pound. source Other fish and seafood was also canned, such…

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Raw cod fish ready to cook
How to Properly Cook Fish

How to Properly Cook Fish

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When I buy fish, I often pan-fry it in butter, rather than deep fry it. Sometimes I’ll bake fish, but I’ve never boiled it. I like fish a lot and need to cook it more often and in different ways. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS DRESSING FISH In dressing fish of any kind for the table, great care is necessary in cleaning it. It is a common error to wash it too much, and by this means the flavor…

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A sauce to flavor meat.
Sauces for Meat, Fish, Poultry and Game

Sauces for Meat, Fish, Poultry and Game

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It’s often hard to give cooked meat a good flavor, especially if it’s lean. Although it’s easy to open a packet or jar of gravy or other prepared sauces, I don’t like eating preservatives and artificial ingredients. When I make my own sauce, I know what ingredients are going into it. And if you don’t eat much meat, you might experiment and try some of these sauces on vegetables. RECIPES BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS SAUCESAll sauces should be sent…

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breaded codfish balls
How to Make Fish Balls

How to Make Fish Balls

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Back in the 1800s, codfish was plentiful along the east coast in the U.S. and cookbooks often had recipes for fish balls. Fish balls are no longer popular here, but quite common in Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS COMMON FISH BALLS Pare six medium-sized potatoes and put in boiling water. Boil half an hour. Drain off all the water, turn the potatoes into a tray with one pint of finely-chopped cod fish, and…

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Fresh whole cod fish
Cooking Codfish Heads, Tongues, and Sounds

Cooking Codfish Heads, Tongues, and Sounds

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I’ve seen a whole fish for sale in grocery stores, but not just the fish’s head. I never heard of a fish sound and didn’t even know they had tongues. The things I learn from reading old cookbooks! The Sound is the swim bladder of many of the bony fishes.  Fish that have a skeleton made of cartilage instead of bone don’t have bladders. Fish Tongues are almost always attached to the bottom of the mouth, so they don’t protrude….

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Fried anchovies with lemon and parsley
The Many Ways to Use Anchovies in Recipes

The Many Ways to Use Anchovies in Recipes

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Anchovies is a name given to approximately 140 species of small “forage fish.” This means they are foraged and eaten by larger fish, sea birds, and marine mammals. Today, anchovies are mostly canned whole, bones and all.  When cooked, they will almost completely dissolve, leaving only the flavor. I never realized the many ways you can use anchovies until I began reading through 1800s cookbooks. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS BUYING ANCHOVIES These delicate fish are preserved in…

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Brennan's turtle soup
Turtle Was a Popular Dish in the 1800s

Turtle Was a Popular Dish in the 1800s

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Many cookbooks from the 1800s included recipes for cooking turtle; snapping turtle, box turtle, sea turtle, and diamondback terrapin. Today, many species of turtles are endangered and it’s illegal to capture or kill them.  In the U.S., you can hunt diamondback terrapins and snapping turtles, but only in season and you must have a hunting license. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: TURTLE SOUP Kill the turtle at daylight in summer, the night before in winter, and hang it up to bleed….

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