Dublin Turbot.

Today I should be in Dublin. Today this post may appear later than usual, due to the vagaries of internet access while travelling – the vagaries that interfere no matter how well planned one thinks one is, and the vagaries that provide some of the interest and adventure of travel. And, of course, the fact that I did not get around to pre-posting this week’s stories as I did last week!

I don’t know what the modern fish and seafood situation is in Dublin, but will find out in the next few days. In the meanwhile, I trust in its reputation, and give you some comments and a recipe from Maria Rundell’s A New System of Domestic Cookery, published in 1844.

“Turbot is said to improve by keeping for a day or two; but the acknowledged superiority of the Dublin Bay turbot arises from it being dressed immediately upon being caught: it then tastes as if it had been boiled in cream.”

Turbot.
May either be boiled in vinegar, salt and water, or in the following marinade. One part of wine to two of water, simmered for a quarter of an hour ,with a bundle of Sweet herbs two bay leaves three onions, one stuck with cloves, three carrots chopped, three turnips sliced a large piece of butter, some salt and whole pepper, the liquor to be strained and allowed to grow cold before using. The garnish for turbot is made thus:- Take the spawn out of the inside of a lobster, dry it well before the fire and shift through a sieve, then scatter it over the turbot.

P.S. In lieu of a quotation (I do not have access to my sources today), I hereby faithfully promise a full report on my visit to the Pudding Club in Mickleton in the Cotswolds. I am proud to report that I managed to sample all seven of the traditional British puds on offer that night.