Mrs Beeton's Fish Forcemeat is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic stuffing or forcemeat of breadcrumbs and suet flavoured with anchovies and herbs that's bound with and egg and which is intended for use with fish. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Mrs Beeton's Fish Forcemeat.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton's 1861 volume Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, the classic Victorian cookbook. Typically this forcemeat is used for pike, carp, haddock or any kind of large white fish.
Original Recipe
416. INGREDIENTS — 1 oz. of fresh butter, 1 oz. of suet, 1 oz. of fat bacon, 1 small teaspoonful of minced savoury herbs, including parsley; a little onion, when liked, shredded very fine; salt, nutmeg, and cayenne to taste; 4 oz. of bread crumbs, 1 egg.
Mode.–Mix all the ingredients well together, carefully mincing them very finely; beat up the egg, moisten with it, and work the whole very smoothly together. Oysters or anchovies may be added to this –, and will be found a great improvement.
Average cost, 6d.
Sufficient for a moderate—sized haddock or pike.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
110g breadcrumbs
25g butter
25g shredded suet
25g bacon fat oysters or anchovies, chopped, to taste (optional)
1 egg
1 small onion, finely grated or shredded
1 tsp savoury herbs (parsley is a must), minced
salt, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and black pepper, to taste
Method:
Chop the butter, suet and bacon fat very finely then combine with the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste then mix thoroughly. Beat the egg then add to the forcemeat mixture and work until smooth.
Use to stuff your favourite fish. The quantity given here is sufficient to stuff a medium-sized haddock or pike.
