To make filets de sole Dugléré, substitute A tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, for the mushrooms and add 1/2 cup tomato juice and 1 clove of garlic. Thicken the sauce with manié butter. Stir to blend the sauce and swirl in 1 tablespoon butter to finish.
To make filets de sole portugaise, follow the recipe for filets de sole Dugléré, adding 1/2 pound cleaned and sliced mushrooms with the tomatoes; instead of thickening the sauce with manié butter, add 1/2 cup cream sauce.
Broiling
Broiling is a quick and easy way of cooking fish, particularly successful with fatty fish like bluefish, mackerel, salmon, and shad, but it takes more skill than is generally supposed. The broiling oven and the broiling rack should be very, very hot. Since overlong cooking can easily dry broiled fish, the fish should be carefully watched. You will discover that a fairly thin fish will cook through by the time the first side is browned, and that it is then unnecessary to turn it and brown the other side. It will be less difficult to turn the fish, when that is necessary, if the grids have been rubbed with butter or oil. Some cooks like to dust less fatfleshed fish with flour before brushing it with oil or butter; they say that the flour helps to achieve a uniformly brown crust and keeps the fish from breaking when it is turned or lifted from the grill for serving. Salmon, mackerel, and the like need only be seasoned with salt and pepper and brushed with butter or oil.
Broiled Small Fish
Clean the fish but leave them whole. Cut a few diagonal slashes about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart in the skin on each side to prevent them from curling when the skin shrinks during the cooking. Season the fish with salt and pepper and roll them in flour and then in salad oil. Heat a large flat pan under the broiler, spread it with butter, and arrange the fish in it side by side. Broil under medium heat about 8 to 10 minutes, or until the fish are gulden brown. Turn the fish and broil them on the other side 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden brown and the flesh is white and flakes when pierced.
To broil smelts, buy smelts that are large enough to split and bone. Split each fish, lift out the backbone, reshape the fish, and cook as for broiled small fish. To make smelts broiled à l'anglaise, roll the boned smelts in flour, then in a mixture of 1 egg beaten with. ¼ cup milk and 1 tablespoon salad oil, and finally, in fine fresh bread crumbs. Cook as for broiled small fish and sprinkle the smelts with a few drops of lemon juice and a little chopped parsley. Serve with maître d'hôtel butter.
To broil fish filets, dry them thoroughly, brush them with oil or butter, and cook like broiled small fish, allowing 4 to 5 minutes to brown the first side. If the pan is very hot, it will not be necessary to turn the filets.
Maitre d'Hôtel Butter
Cream 1/2 cup butter and add 1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.
Sautéing
Any good fat or oil—enough generously to cover the bottom of the pan— may be used for sautéing, but if you use any fat but butter, discard it before making a pan sauce. The fat should be very hot, or the fish will stick. Small fish are cooked and served with their heads and tails intact. Slash the fish diagonally every 2 inches or so on the sides, so that when the fish shrinks in cooking it will not curl up. The skillet should be large enough to hold all the fish without crowding. Fish for sautéing may be dipped in milk and in flour; this makes for a crisp, attractively brown surface. The simplest sauce for sautéed fish is made in the saute pan. The cooking fat is discarded and the pan is deglazed with butter; that is, [ tablespoon butter for each serving is melted and browned in the pan, while the brown bits that cling to the pan arc scraped and stirred into it. A few drops of lemon juice may be added to the browned butter, which is then poured over the fish.
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