Sam's historical recipe corner: fish sausages

History Extra

“The struggle is not only on land and sea; it is in your larder, your kitchen, and your dining room...” So begins the Win-the-War Cookery Book, published in 1918 as part of Britain’s food economy campaign.

 Designed to encourage people to ration food and thus bolster the war effort, the book’s ingenious (not to say bizarre!) recipes – which range from cheese herrings to fried mush – really do make the most of every single ingredient.

 Ingredients
2 teacups-full of cooked fish (I used cod)
2 tbsp of cooked rice (I used about 5!)
 ½tsp dried herbs (I used dill)
Salt and pepper
1 small egg or 1tbsp of water or stock
Breadcrumbs, maize flour or oatmeal

 Method
Pound the skinned and boned fish until smooth, then add rice, herbs, seasoning and egg or stock. Add stock as required to moisten.

 Mix the ingredients thoroughly and form into small sausages. Roll in dried breadcrumbs, maize flour or oatmeal, and fry the coated sausages in hot oil.

 My verdict
Most fried foods tend to taste great, and so did these: not the healthiest dish but a lovely treat. I was expecting something a bit blander, but these were delicious – especially with a dollop of tartare sauce on the side. We ate the sausages for dinner and then again, cold, on a picnic at the beach – my son Dylan (below) loved them! The idea of fish sausages may seem a bit unappealing, but they are actually more like fish rissoles or croquettes.

 To get a good shape to the sausages, I wrapped them in cling film and put them in the fridge for an hour before frying them. Make sure you add enough stock to prevent them from becoming too dry.

 Difficulty: 3/10
 Time: 20 mins (add an hour for cooling them in the fridge before frying)

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Fake fish

History Extra

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates fake fish - a medieval apple pie for Lent.

 In the Middle Ages, people were instructed not to eat meat during Lent. Yet the ban didn’t apply to fish – in fact, Dutch gourmets enjoyed serving up ‘fish’ dishes so much that they devised this fish-shaped apple pie. With no animal products, it’s every bit as virtuous as it is delicious.

 Ingredients For the dough:
 500g flour 125g oil (I used olive oil)
40g ground almonds
300ml water
1tsp salt
Saffron (optional)
Whole/sliced almonds to make scales

 For the filling:
 3 apples, chopped
 90g cane sugar
1tsp ginger
 ½tsp cinnamon
½tsp saffron
 2 slices gingerbread, lightly toasted and crumbled, or 40 ground almonds

Method For the dough:
Mix all the ingredients together, adding more liquid/flour if required, and knead it all until it’s reasonably smooth. Put the dough in the fridge for an hour before you need to use it.

 For the filling: Add the ingredients into a blender or mash by hand using a potato masher.

 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Divide the pastry in two. Roll out the first part and cut out an oval shape. Place the fish on a baking tray with toasted breadcrumbs sprinkled on the dough. Put the apple filling on to the oval, roll and cut out a second oval and place over the filling, pressing the top layer to the bottom. Cut out an eye hole and a hole near where the tail will go. Add fins, gills, scales. Bake for 45mins.

 Difficulty: 3/10

 Time: 90 mins

 Recipe courtesy of Coquinaria

423-Million-Year-Old Fish Was Once Earth's Largest Vertebrate

By Tia Ghose,

In the sea of the Late Silurian, the Megamastax amblyodus consumes the jawless armored fish Dunyu longiforus Credit: Brian Choo

Scientists have unearthed a fossilized fish that was once the biggest vertebrate of its day.
The predatory sea creature, dubbed Megamastax amblyodus, which means "big mouth, blunt teeth," prowled the oceans about 423 million years ago and used its flat teeth for crushing the shells of its slow-moving, hard-shelled prey.

The new species ruled the seas during a period known as the Devonian, or the Age of Fish, which occurred between 416 million and 358 million years ago. The Devonian period saw the rise of some of Earth's largest vertebrate predators, including the terrifying Dunkleosteus, a massive predatory fish that could grow to be 33 feet (10 meters) long. [T. rex of the Seas: A Mosasaur Gallery]
But most of the fossil vertebrates unearthed from the early Devonian, or what's known as the Silurian period, were relatively small, with the largest uncovered fossil being just 14 inches (35 centimeters) long.
Some climate models have suggested that the period was characterized by low atmospheric oxygen levels, or hypoxia. Existing "marine fishes in general are also known to be less tolerant of hypoxic conditions than many marine invertebrates," the researchers wrote in the study. "This suggests that low oxygen levels would have imposed some degree of extrinsic constraint on the maximum body size and available niche opportunities of the earliest gnathostomes," or jawed vertebrates.
Big fish
Vertebrate paleontologist Brian Choo and his colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences unearthed jaw and tooth fragments from the fossilized fish in the Kuanti formation in China.

The Megamastax lower jaw.
Credit: Min Zhu

View full size image

The jaw was at least 6.7 inches (17 cm) long and contained both sharp conical teeth and blunt teeth. The blunt choppers would have been perfect for crushing hard shells, while the sharp teeth would have been better for grasping unsuspecting prey. The predatory sea creature may have used its teeth to prey upon the slow-moving, armored fish that lived at the time, such as the extinct Dunyu longiforus, the researchers said.
Based on the jaw size, the paleontologists estimate that M. amblyodus could have been up to 39 inches (1 meter) long — about three times the size of the next-biggest creature from the period.
Early origins
The new discovery suggests that large vertebrate predators may have emerged earlier in the Devonian period than previously thought.
At the same time, a newer climate model suggests the Silurian period may not have been as oxygen-starved as previous models have shown.
The newly discovered fish, together with fossil finds that show greater diversity in vertebrates at the time, call into question the notion that low oxygen levels during the Silurian limited the body size of early jawed vertebrates.
"While not in itself a reliable indicator of ancient atmospheric conditions, these fossils are at least consistent with the high Silurian oxygen levels predicted" by a newer climate model, the authors wrote in the paper.
http://www.livescience.com/46271-biggest-devonian-predator.html