Christmas carp

The fish is kept in clean water for days first, to take the muddy taste out of it.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 1 carp, about 2 kg, cleaned and scaled
• 2 teaspoons salt
• juice of 1 lemon
• 100 g plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 150 g breadcrumbs
• 120 g butter, for frying
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 lemon, in wedges
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

Method

1. THE FISH IS KEPT IN CLEAN WATER FOR DAYS FIRST, TO TAKE THE MUDDY TASTE OUT OF IT. The article records the custom and the reason together: the fish is KEPT IN A BATHTUB BEFORE PREPARATION TO REMOVE MUDDY FLAVOURS.
2. SO THE STEP THAT MATTERS HAPPENS BEFORE ANY COOKING. Carp is a bottom feeder and the taste people object to lives in the mud it has been eating; days in clean water empties it. A fishmonger who keeps carp alive has already done this, and it is worth asking.
3. AND IF IT HAS NOT BEEN DONE THERE IS NO FIXING IT LATER. No amount of lemon, butter or breadcrumb covers it. This is the one dish on these pages whose critical step may have been taken or missed before you buy the thing.
4. THE LEMON JUICE AND SALT GO ON AN HOUR AHEAD, inside and out, and that is the second half of the same job.
5. IT IS A FASTING DISH, WHICH IS WHY IT EXISTS. The article explains that Advent was kept as a fast, FISH IS COMMONLY EATEN DURING FASTING PERIODS AS IT IS NOT CONSIDERED MEAT, and the carp became the dish for Christmas Eve as the fast's high point.
6. SCORE THE THICK PART OF EACH SIDE TO THE BONE, three or four cuts. Carp is deep-bodied and the shoulder cooks much slower than the tail.
7. FLOUR, EGG, THEN BREADCRUMB, AND LET IT STAND TEN MINUTES. A rested coating stays on; a wet one slides off in the pan.
8. BUTTER AND OIL TOGETHER, NOT BUTTER ALONE. The article has it COMMONLY FRIED, and butter on its own burns long before a two-kilo fish is through.
9. EIGHT MINUTES A SIDE OVER A MEDIUM HEAT, turned once with two spatulas. It will break if you turn it twice.
10. SERVED WITH LEMON AND PARSLEY, and the article records what happens afterwards: in Silesia THE LEFTOVER FISH BONES ARE PLACED ON THE FRUIT TREES IN THE GARDEN to encourage them in spring, and in the Ore Mountains the carp is part of the NEINERLAA, a nine-piece ritual Christmas feast, standing for money.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes