Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (61 page)

Make a béchamel sauce with the milk, butter, and flour, and when you remove it from the fire add the Parmesan cheese. When it is no longer boiling hot, add the egg yolks and chopped fish, seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour into the shells, which you have greased with cold butter, bake in a Dutch oven just until golden brown, and serve.

You can also fill the scallop shells with finely chopped boiled chicken, using the same proportions.

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I hope my readers will allow me to give a little of the history of this very interesting fish.

The sturgeon belongs to the order of the
Ganoidei
, from the Latin
Ganus
, which means shiny, owing to the shine of its scales, and to the sub-order of the
Chondrostei
, since it has a cartilaginous skeleton. It constitutes the family of the
Acipenser
, which is defined by those two characteristic qualities, as well as by a skin made up of five longitudinal series of shiny scales. The mouth of this fish is located on the underside of the head; it has no teeth and is shaped like a protractile suction device, with nasal barbels or tentacles for searching in the mud for its food, which apparently consists of tiny creatures.

Sturgeon are highly prized for their flesh, as well as for their eggs, which are used for caviar, and for their enormous air bladder, which is used to make isinglass or fish glue. In the springtime, they swim upstream in rivers to deposit their eggs in calm waters along the banks.

Italy is home to several species of sturgeon, of which the most highly prized for its food is the
Acipenser sturio
(common sturgeon). It can be recognized by its sharp snout and thick lower lip split in the middle, as well as by its simple nasal tentacles, which are all the same size. It prefers the mouths of the Ticino and Po rivers, where not long ago one weighing 215 kilograms (about 475 pounds) was caught. But the sturgeon that grows largest is the
Acipenser huso
, which can reach up to two meters or more in length, with egg sacs one-third the size of the entire fish. It is this fish in particular that provides caviar and gelatin. Caviar is made from the raw eggs of the sturgeon, which are carefully strained through a sieve to remove the filaments that envelop them; they are then salted and tightly packed. Isinglass is made on the beaches of the Caspian Sea and along the banks of the rivers that run into it, but more than anywhere else in Astrakhan. It is hardly surprising that there is such an extraordinary amount of it on the market
(since isinglass has many uses), if one considers that sometimes in the Volga from fifteen to twenty thousand sturgeon are caught daily; for it is from there—that is, the southern regions of Russia—that we get caviar. It was announced not long ago that some fishermen on the Danube caught a sturgeon weighing 800 kilograms (about 1950 pounds). The skeleton of this enormous fish, 3.3 meters (about 11 feet) long, is now on display at the Museum of Vienna.

The extinct species of sturgeon include the
Magadictis
, which reached a length of 10 to 20 meters (about 33 to 34 feet).

Sturgeon is good no matter how you prepare it: poached, stewed, or grilled. To stew it, proceed as follows. Take a large piece of sturgeon weighing at least 500 grams (about 1 pound), remove the skin, and stud it with lardoons seasoned beforehand with salt and pepper. Then tie it crosswise, dredge in flour, and place on the fire with oil and butter, seasoning again with salt and pepper. When it is browned on both sides, moisten with stock and cook until done. Before removing, squeeze lemon juice over it, and serve in its own sauce.

This small fish, with its bluish, almost silvery skin, known on the shores of the Adriatic by the name of “sardone,” differs from the sardine in that the sardine is flat, whereas the anchovy is round and has a more delicate flavor. Both species belong to the same family, and when they are fresh, they are usually eaten fried. But anchovies are more appetizing when cooked with finely chopped garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, and oil; once done, add a little water mixed with vinegar.

You probably already know that blue fish are the least digestible of the bony species.
⁸²

If you want to give a nicer appearance to fried anchovies or sardines, after you’ve removed the heads and dredged them in flour, pick them up by the tail one by one, dip them in well-salted beaten egg, and then again in the flour, before tossing them in a pan of hot oil. If the anchovies are large, it is even better to make a slit along the back with a sharp knife and remove the spine, leaving the tail to keep them in one piece.

For this dish you need the largest sardines available. Take 20 to 24 sardines, which are enough for the amount of filling described below. Wash the sardines, remove the heads, and open them out flat on the belly side with your fingers to remove the spine. Make a mixture with:

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of crustless bread

3 salted anchovies

the yolk of 1 hard-boiled egg

1/2 a clove of garlic

a pinch of oregano

Dip the bread in milk and then squeeze it dry. Remove the scales and spine from the anchovies, then finely chop them. Mix all the ingredients together; then use the blade of a knife to reduce the mixture to a fine paste. Spread this paste on the open sardines and close them up. Then dip them one by one into the egg white (lightly beaten) left over from the egg yoke, then coat the fish with bread crumbs, fry in oil, salt a bit, and serve with lemon wedges.

If you find yourselves some day in the mountains near Pistoia in search of cool weather, fresh air, and enchanting landscapes, ask for “broccioli,” a fresh-water fish that looks like a gudgeon, and has a flavor as delicate as trout, and perhaps even more so.

So invigorating is that mountain air, that once a lady I know, after a long walk in those mountains, found meatballs made by the parish priest of Pianosinatico so delicious that she gobbled them all up.

Flying squid (
Loligo
) belong to the order of cephalopods and are known by the name of “calamaretti” on the coast of the Adriatic. Since that sea produces them small, but meaty and flavorful when fried, connoisseurs of good food judge them to be an excellent dish. By comparison, the Mediterranean produces a larger fish,
⁸³
and I have seen “calamari” that looked like they weighed between 200 and 300 grams (between about 7 and 10-1/2 ounces); but they are not as good as the ones from the Adriatic. Even when cut into pieces, large calamari would turn out tough when fried, so it is better to stuff and then cook them on a grill, or to stew them if they are very large. This fish has inside it a little flexible blade, which is nothing more than a rudimentary shell and should be removed before stuffing.

Cut off the tentacles (which are the arms of the flying squid), leaving the sac and the head. Using a mezzaluna, chop the tentacles with some parsley and very little garlic. Mix this with a generous amount of bread crumbs, season with oil, pepper, and salt, and use this mixture to stuff the sac of the fish; to close the mouth of the sac, insert a toothpick, which you will later remove. Season with oil, pepper, and salt, and cook, as I said, on a grill.

If you find yourselves in Naples, do not forget to visit the aquarium in the gardens of the Villa Nazionale, where, among many zoological marvels, you will observe with pleasure this slender, graceful cephalopod swimming and darting about with great dexterity. You will also admire the speed and dexterity of sole as they suddenly disappear in the sand, with which they cover themselves, perhaps to hide from some pursuing enemy.

To return to squid—which are quite a difficult fish to digest, but excellent year round—after you have removed the cuttlebone and popped the eyes out, wash and dry them, roll in flour, and fry in oil. But be careful not to overcook them, which is easy to do if you do not pay close attention. If you do overcook them, they shrivel up and become even harder to digest. Season while hot with salt and pepper.

Do not think that I want to talk to you about the cicadas
⁸⁴
that sing up in the trees; what I mean to talk about is the crustacean,
Squilla mantis
, so common in the Adriatic, where it is known by the name of “cannocchia.”

This is a crustacean that is always tasty to eat; but it is much better during certain months of the year, from the middle of February to April. During this season, it is meatier than usual, and contains a red tube along its spine colloquially called the “cera” or “corallo,” which is nothing more than the egg receptacle. It is good poached, and when cut into pieces it shows to advantage in a nice stew; it is also excellent grilled, seasoned with olive oil, pepper, and salt.

If you like it even tastier, cut it open along the back, stuff it with a mixture of bread crumbs, parsley, and garlic, and season both the filling and the fish itself with olive oil, pepper, and salt.

When they are in season, that is, when they have their egg sac as described in the preceding recipe, squill can be fried in the following way, which merits consideration.

After cleaning the squill, poach in a small amount of water, covering the pan with a cheesecloth kept in place by a weight; I think 15 minutes should be sufficient. Then remove the shell, cut the flesh into two pieces, dip in salted beaten egg, and fry in oil.

If you do not mind using your fingernails, getting your hands dirty, and maybe even cutting your lips, here is a tasty treat.

Before cooking, soak the squill in cold water so that they do not shrivel up; in fact, this causes them to swell. Make a mixture of chopped garlic, parsley, and oil; when it has browned, add the whole squill and season with salt and pepper. When they have absorbed the seasonings, pour tomato sauce or diluted tomato paste over them and serve on top of slices of bread that have been warmed over the fire. Before serving, make an incision with scissors along the back of each one, so that they are easier to peel.

Talking about squill I am reminded of mantis shrimp,
⁸⁵
which at first sight resemble them. But upon careful examination, this crustacean looks like a large shrimp usually weighing between 50 or 60 grams (between about 1-2/3 and 2 ounces). Its flavor is more delicate than that of the lobster and like lobster it is usually eaten boiled. But so that it doesn’t lose flavor, it is better to grill it, without any seasoning, and afterwards peel it and season with olive oil, pepper, salt, and lemon juice. Like all shrimps, small sparnocchie can also be floured and fried just as they are, or it can be poached first as in the recipe for fried squill.

The
Anguilla vulgaris
is a singular fish. Although the people of the Comacchio Valley claim to be able to tell the male from the female, no one has yet succeeded, in spite of much study, in distinguishing the sexes on the basis of external characteristics, perhaps because the sperm sac of the male is similar to the ovary of the female.

The common eel lives in fresh water but to reproduce it needs to go to the sea. This descent to the sea, which is called the “calata,” takes place chiefly on dark, stormy nights during the months of October, November, and December, and it is then that the catch is easier and more abundant.

Newborn eels leave the sea and enter marshes or rivers toward the end of January or February, and during this period, which is called the “montata” or ascent, they are caught at the mouths of rivers in great quantities and are called glass eels or elvers. The fishing industry takes advantage of these catches to re-populate ponds and lakes in which eels cannot reproduce because there is no connection to the salt water of the sea.

Recent studies in the Strait of Messina have shown that this fish, and its relatives the muraenids or morays, need to deposit their eggs in the depths of the sea, at a depth of no less than 500 meters (about 1640 feet), and that, like frogs, they undergo a metamorphosis. The
Leptocephalus brevirostris
, which looks like an oleander leaf as transparent as glass, was until now believed to be a species unto itself; really, it is nothing but the first stage of life, or larva, of this creature, which later is transformed into an elver, the so-called glass eel that swims upriver in search of fresh water and is never less than 1/2 a centimeter (about 1/5 of an inch) long. We do not know what becomes of the adult eels that swim down river to the sea; perhaps, remaining in the profound darkness of the depths of the sea, they die under that enormous pressure, or else they undergo a change to adapt themselves to the environment in which they find themselves.