Name: Jane Grigson’s Christmas Carp (Karpfen Polnischer Art — Polish-Style Carp)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: 100 g (3 oz, 1 generous cup) crumbled spice cake, such as honey cake or pain d’épicé; bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaf and parsley stalks, with 1 clove and 6 black peppercorns; about 2.5 litres (4 pints, 10 cups) beer; salt and freshly ground black pepper; lemon juice; 175 g (6 oz, 1½ sticks) unsalted butter; 2 kg (4 lb) carp containing soft roe; 4 medium onions, sliced; 3 stalks of celery heart, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Feast of Christmas

By Paul Levy

Published 1992

About

In her Fish Cookery Jane Grigson notes that some German families eat their Christmas Eve carp with this sauce made sweet and sour with honeyed spice cake and beer; others have it poached au bleu with a horseradish sauce made with cream, sugar and ground almonds. If you are lucky enough to get a just-dispatched carp that can be poached in this way, don’t wash it or