Red Snapper Stew

From Sunset (Lane Publishing's) Cooking for Two or Just For You.

 This is one of the first recipes I ever cooked for myself that I would qualify as being a true gourmet dish. I have made this dish for over 45 years now. 

 

16 ozs red snapper, boned and skinned
1 bell pepper, green, seeded and cubed
1 whole onion, quartered and quartered
15 oz. can tomatoes, whole or diced
12 ozs. tomato juice
¼ cup wine, white, dry
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp salt
½ tsp oregano leaves
3 tbs olive oil

Instructions
Batterie de Cuisine: 3-4 quart pot, knife, garlic grater, small bowls for holding ingredients.
Prepare the fish by drying it with paper towels. Cut into 3/4 inch cubes. Put in a bowl and reserve. Cut the bell pepper along the stem side, remove the top (lid) and pull out the seeds from inside the bell pepper. If desired, using a vegetable peeler, skin the pepper. Cut the stem away from the meat and cut the remaining into dice. Cut the pepper into sections, then into 3/4 inch cubes. Skin the onion and remove the stem and root end, slicing 1/8 inch from each end. Cut the onion in half, from top to bottom. Lay the sides flat, cut in half again, turn around and cut again, making the onion sliced into eights.
Reserved the pepper and onion in a bowl. Peel and grate the garlic and put in a condiment or small cup. Add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the garlic. It is important that the garlic go first, or it will flow out in the next step, which is not wanted.
 

Heat the pot over medium low heat. When hot, pour the olive oil from the condiment cup, leaving behind the garlic for the moment. Raise the heat to medium high, add the onion and pepper cubes (pieces). Stir to coat the cubes with the oil. When they are coated, using a spatula or your finger, add the garlic and any remaining oil. Stir to mix the garlic into the vegetables. Sauce the vegetables for up to 8 minutes over medium high heat. The onions are to soften. You can cover the pot for a minute at a time to get some stem to help with the softening.

Next add the tomatoes (if whole) and break them up with a spoon. If using diced tomatoes, add them. Next add all the remaining ingredients, except the snapper. Over medium-high heat, bring the pot to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the fish. Cover and simmer 8 minutes longer until the fish is flaky and can be prodded with a fork.
 

Serve with crusty French bread (a baguette) and a lettuce salad. 

While any leftover can be eaten the next day, it never tastes quite as good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reproduction Chile Sauce with the Secret Ingredient

I've researched condiment recipes as much as I can. These types of recipes are closely guarded secrets. Think Coca-Cola. They don't want a copy of that getting out.

I've always wanted to make my own chile sauce. Pardon the other writer's misspelling, as it should not be chili.

Some while ago, I had found a cookbook author, one Gisine Lemcke, who ran a cooking school in Brooklyn NY in the late 19th early 20th century.

Below is her recipe. It's use of green tomatoes will impart that slight tang that chile sauce has, and that ketchup does not have. Heinz Chili Sauce sells at a premium to Heinz Ketchup. Now you know why.

Preserving and Pickling
By Gesine Lemcke
New York: Appleton, 1919

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Preserving_and_Pickling/08pDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

Chili Sauce No 1

24 ripe tomatoes
15 green tomatoes
4 large onions
3 green peppers
4 tablespoonfuls of salt
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
1 quart of vinegar
1-2 tsp. cloves
1-2 tsp. allspice
1-2 tsp. ginger
1-2 tsp. cinnamon

Scald and free the ripe tomatoes from their skin and cut them in small pieces. Cut also the green tomatoes, the peeled onions and the green peppers, put all the ingredients in a kettle boil slowly 1 2 hours. 

Mrs. Lemcke, does not describe more than the above. Maybe this will cook to the correct consistency and not need a milling, but keep that in mind. Some bits are acceptable. I imagine Heinz removes the seeds from theirs as that would impart a bitter note.

If preserving with sodium benzoate, remember not more than .1%, that is .001 by weight. Add the benzoate after cooking, but before the pot reaches room temperature.