BBR Auctions had an unassuming 4 1/4ins diameter POTTED BLOATERS pot lid, estimated at £50 to £60 which sold for £700 inc premiums to rank as third top lot at what Alan Blakeman described as the Autumn Extravaganza with a likely and good-spirited high number attendance - 'the fullest we've ever had for a Saturday unreserved auction.' The pot lid was catalogued with 'minor flange flakes' and 'a very striking pictorial'.
Bloaters are whole cold-smoked salted herring with a slightly gamey flavour because the guts were left in, popular in 19th century England and sometimes called Yarmouth capons, two-eyed steaks, or Billingsgate pheasants. They got their name because they swelled during the preparation.
Potted bloaters, a much loved comestible, eaten with toast or biscuits in upper class and avant-garde circles such as the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, were made by removing heads and tails of cured bloaters, immersing in scalding water to remove the skins, removing the backbones, stewing in clarified butter, mace, anchovy and cayenne, pounding in a mortar, rubbing through a coarse hair sieve, and putting in small pots covered with clarified butter and stored in a cool place.
THORN'S POTTED YARMOUTH BLOATERS, now in high perfection. The increasing demand for this most delicious preparation, proves, beyond all doubt, it. is far superior to anything of the kind ever yet offered to the public, for Sandwiches, Toast Biscuits &c and as an excellent relish for Wine.
In pots, Is. and 2s. each. Warranted in all climates. Wholesale at the Warehouse, 223, High Holborn, of all wholesale Oilmen and Druggists in London and retail by all respectable Oilmen, Grocers, and Fishmongers in the United Kingdom.
CAUTION: The Proprietor, being aware of several spurious compositions that are daily offered to the public, under the name of Potted Bloaters, beg them to observe his signature, ALEX THORN, on the side of the Pot, without which it cannot be genuine.
Advertisement in The Figaro no344 14th July 1838
And apparently you can now eat nouveau cuisine potted bloaters at Quo Vadis restaurant in Dean Street, Soho, and a recipe is available by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage in Dorset.
