No. 1152 — Carp Boiled in Beer and Red Wine with Raisins
English historical translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 1152 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original methods and measures.
The author notes that carp can be boiled with or without its scales and says some prefer the taste of scaled carp.
The historical method directs collecting blood from a freshly killed carp into salted boiled vinegar. Clean, cut into portions and salt the fish, keeping its milt and roe.
Boil parsley, celery, leek, carrot, a dried mushroom, two onions, black and allspice berries, bay leaves and cloves in beer.
Put the carp's head and then the other pieces into another saucepan with lemon zest and a piece of rye bread crust, cover with strained spiced beer and boil, watching that it does not catch.
Fry a spoonful of flour in butter. Once cooled, add the fish blood mixed with vinegar, caramelized sugar and enough carp stock to dilute.
Add ½ glass of red wine, extra sugar to taste, a handful of scalded sultanas, lemon juice and about fifteen pickled cherries; boil several times, leaving plenty of sauce.
Arrange the carp on a platter, scatter lemon slices and raisins over it, and pour over the sauce. Tench and bream may be prepared similarly.
To provide
3–4 Russian pounds of carp and 1 parsley root 1 celery root, 1 leek and 2 onions 3–4 black peppercorns and 5–6 allspice berries 2–3 bay leaves and 1 lemon 2–4 cloves and lemon zest | Bread crust and ¼ glass of vinegar 2 bottles of beer and 1–2 spoonfuls of butter 1 spoonful of flour and 5–6 lumps of sugar ½ glass of red wine and ½ glass of raisins About 15 pickled cherries |