Part 2 — CHAPTER XIV FISH

CHAPTER XIV FISH

In matters culinary, fish comprise not only the vertebrates of the sea and river, but also the esculent crustacea, mollusca, and chelonia, and one batrachian. Of course, the animals representing these various classes differ enormously in respect of their importance as articles of diet. Fresh-water fish, for instance, with the exception of salmon and some kinds of trout, are scarcely ever eaten in England; and the same applies to the frog. As regards salt-water fish, although certain species, such as the sole and the turbot, are in great demand, many other and excellent ones which are looked upon as inferior are seldom put into requisition by first-class cookery. Thus, Brill, Red Mullet, and Bass are not nearly so popular as they deserve to be, and never appear on a menu of any importance. No doubt, Fashion—ever illogical and wayward—exercises her tyrannical sway here, as in other matters of opinion; for it will be found, even when the distinctions among fish are once established, that there exist a host of incongruities in the unwritten law. Fresh cod is a case in point; should this fish appear on the menu of a grand dinner given by Royalty, the guests would not think it at all out of place; but if the chef of a large modern hotel ventured to include it among the items of a plain table-d’hôte dinner he would most probably incur the scorn and indignation of his clientèle.

This example, than which none could be better suited to our case, successfully shows that the culinary value of the fish has far less to do with the vogue the latter enjoys than the very often freakish whims of the public.

One can but deplore the arbitrary proscription which so materially reduces the resources at the disposal of a cook, more particularly at a time when the universally imperious cry is for novelty and variety in dishes and menus respectively; and one can only hope that reason and good sense may, at no remote period, intervene to check the purposeless demands of both entertainers and their guests in this respect.

Having regard to these considerations, I have omitted from this work, which is really a thesaurus of selected recipes and not a complete formulary, all those fish enumerated below, which are very rarely eaten in England, and the recipes for which could therefore serve no purpose:—

753—SHAD,

chiefly served grilled.

754—FRESH ANCHOVIES,

extremely rare, and may be grilled or fried.

755—EELS,

considered as common, and principally used in the preparation of a pie held in high esteem by the frequenters of coffee-shops along the banks of the Thames. Small eels are also fried. But the many ways of dressing them which are common on the Continent are seldom practised in England.

756—PIKE,

plentiful and of excellent quality; only used in the preparation of forcemeat and quenelles; the directions for the latter will be given later. Albeit they are sometimes served crimped, or cooked whole in a

court-bouillon au bleu

, accompanied by parsley or caper sauce, &c. Small pike are generally prepared “à la Meunière,” or fried.

757—CARP,

in still less demand than the pike, and only prized for its milt. It must, however, be admitted that in England, more than anywhere else, I believe, this fish is too often spoilt by the taint of mud.

758—DORADO,

served boiled with any of the English fish sauces; but, in my opinion, it is best grilled, after the manner generally adopted in the South of France.

759—STURGEON,

very rare; it is braised, like veal.

760—FÉRA,

very scarce on the market; comes from the Swiss or Savoy lakes, and is only served à la Meunière.

761—GUDGEON,

very abundant in all rivers, but never eaten.

762—FROGS,

the pet abomination of all classes of the population, with but few exceptions; nevertheless “Nymphes à l’Aurore,” the recipe of which I gave among the hors-d’œuvres, are generally appreciated.

763—FRESH HERRINGS,

abundant and of excellent quality; seldom used in first-class cookery, except, perhaps, for their milt. Bloaters and kippered herrings are, with reason, preferred; of these I shall speak later.

764—LAMPREYS,

chiefly used in preparing pies similar to those referred to in No.

755

.

765—FRESH-WATER HERRINGS,

like the Féra, come from Switzerland or Savoy, and are very scarce on the English market.

766—LOTTE

very scarce on the English market; only prized for its liver.

767—MOSTELE,

only caught in the region of Monaco; cannot bear transport; especially served à la Meunière or à l’Anglaise.

768—MUSSELS,

only used as garnish.

769—NONAT,

replaced in England by whitebait, which it greatly resembles.

770—PERCH,

very moderately appreciated; chiefly served fried, when small, and boiled with some fish sauce when large.

771—SKATE,

generally served boiled, with caper sauce; occasionally with brown butter. The smaller specimens are better fried. Often offered for sale, crimped.

772—SARDINES,

generally of inferior quality; used in the preparation of sprats.

773—STERLET,

almost unknown in England.

774—TURTLE,

with the exception of those firms which make this their speciality, is almost exclusively used in preparing Turtle Soup. The flippers are sometimes served braised au Madère.

I do not think it at all necessary to lay any further stress upon the series of preparations bearing the names of Croquettes, Cromesquis, Côtelettes (côtelettesCoquilles, Bouchées, Palets, &c., which may be made from any kind of cooked fish. These preparations are so well known that it would be almost superfluous to repeat their recipes.

775—DIVERS WAYS OF COOKING FISH

The divers ways of cooking fish are all derived from one or another of the following methods:—

(1) Boiling in salted water, which may be applied equally well to large pieces and slices of fish.

(2) Frying, particularly suited to small specimens and thin slices of larger ones.

(3) Cooking in butter, otherwise “à la Meunière,” best suited to the same pieces as No. 2.

(4) Poaching, with short moistening, especially suited to fillets or small specimens.

(5) Braising, used particularly for large pieces.

(6) Grilling, for small specimens and collops.

(7) Cooking au Gratin, same as grilling.

776—THE BOILING OF FISH IN SALTED WATER

The procedure changes according as to whether the fish is to be cooked whole or in slices. If whole, after having properly cleaned, washed, and trimmed it, lay it on the drainer of the utensil best suited to its shape; i.e., a fish-kettle. Cover it with water, salt it in the proportion of one-quarter oz. of salt per quart of water, cover the utensil, and bring the liquid to the boil. As soon as this is done skim and move the kettle to the side of the fire, where the cooking of the fish may be completed without boiling.

If the fish is cut into slices, plunge these, which should never be cut too thin, into boiling salted water, and move the fish-kettle containing them to the side of the fire; complete their cooking slowly without allowing the water to boil.

The object of this process is to concentrate, inside the fish, all the juices contained in its flesh, whereof a large portion escapes when the cut fish is plunged in cold water gradually brought to the boil. If this method is not applied to large fish, cooked whole, the reason is that the sudden immersion of these in boiling water would cause such a shrinking of their flesh that they would burst and thereby be spoiled.

In the case of certain kinds of fish, such as Turbot and Brill, milk is added to the water in the proportion of one-eighth of the latter, the object being to increase the whiteness of the fish.

For the various kinds of Salmon and Trout, the court-bouillon (No. 163) is used in the place of salted water, but the general working process remains the same.

The boiled fish is dished on a napkin and drainer; it is garnished with fresh parsley; and the sauce announced on the menu, together with some plain-boiled and floury potatoes, is sent to the table separately.

777—THE FRYING OF FISH

In Part I. of this work I explained the general theory of frying (Chapter X., No. 262); I shall now, therefore, only concern myself with the details of the operation in its relation to fish.

As a rule, frying should never be resorted to for very large fish or very thick slices of the latter, for, owing to the very high temperature that the operation enjoins, the outside of the fish would be dried up before the inside had even become affected.

If the fish to be fried is somewhat thick, it is best to cut several gashes in it, lengthwise and across, these being deeper and closer together the thicker the fish may be. The object of this measure is to facilitate the cooking, but the measure itself is quite unnecessary when dealing with small fish. In the case of flat-fish, partly detach the two underlying fillets on either side of the back-bone instead of gashing them.

All fish intended for frying (except Blanchailles and Whitebait) should first be steeped in salted milk, then rolled in flour before being plunged into the hot fat. If they be “panés à l’anglaise,” however, as they generally are in England, the milk may be dispensed with, in which case, after they have been lightly coated with flour, they are completely dipped in an anglaise (No. 174) and afterwards rolled in white bread-crumbs. They should then be patted with the blade of a knife so as to ensure the cohesion of the whole coating, and, finally, the latter should be criss-crossed with the back of a knife with the view of improving the appearance when fried.

Fried fish are served either on a napkin, on a drainer, or on special dish-papers. They are garnished with fried parsley and properly trimmed half-lemons.

778—THE COOKING OF FISH A LA MEUNIÈRE

This excellent mode of procedure is only suited to small fish or the slices of larger ones. Nevertheless, it may be resorted to for chicken-turbots, provided their weight do not exceed four lbs.

The operation consists in cooking the fish (or slices or fillets of fish) in the frying-pan with very hot butter, after having seasoned them and sprinkled them with flour. If the fish are very small, ordinary butter is used; if, on the other hand, they are large, the procedure demands clarified butter. When the fish is sufficiently coloured on one side, it is turned over for the completion of the operation. This done, it is transferred, by means of a spatula, to a hot dish, whereon, after having been salted, it is sent to the table.

It may be served as it is with a garnish of trimmed half-lemons.

Fish prepared in this way are termed “dorés” (gilded), “Soles dorés,” “Turbotins dorés,” &c., in order to distinguish them from those prepared à la Meunière.

If the fish is announced “à la Meunière,” a few drops of lemon should be sprinkled upon it; it should be seasoned with salt and pepper, and garnished with concassed, scalded parsley. At the last moment a piece of butter, in proportion to the size of the fish, is put in the frying-pan, and is heated until it begins to brown slightly. This is poured over the fish immediately, and the latter is sent to the table at once while still covered by the froth resulting from the contact of the butter with the parsley.

779—THE POACHING OF FISH

This method is best suited to sole, chicken-turbots, and brill, as well as to the fillets of various fish.

Having laid the fish to be poached in a baking-tray or a sautépan, either of which should have been previously buttered, season it moderately with salt and moisten with a little very white fish or mushroom fumet; very often the two latter are mixed. Cover the utensil, push it into a moderate oven, and baste from time to time, especially when a large fish is cooking. When the fish is done, drain it carefully, place it on a dish, and, as a rule, reduce the poaching-liquor and add it to the sauce. Poached fish are always served sauced; i.e., covered with the sauce which properly forms their accompaniment. More often than not they are garnished after the manner which will be described later.

I most emphatically urge: (1) the use of very little fish fumet for the poaching, but this fumet should be perfect and should, above all, not be cooked for longer than the required time; (2) that the fish be not covered with buttered paper as is often done, for nowadays a suitable paper is very rarely found. All papers found on the market are, owing to the chemical products used in their manufacture, liable to impart a more or less pungent smell to the objects they enclose, which in either degree would prove seriously prejudicial to the preparation.

These remarks not only apply to fish, but to all those objects with which paper was formerly used at some stage in their cooking process.

780—THE BRAISING OF FISH

This method is generally applied to whole or sliced salmon, to trout, and to chicken-turbot. Sometimes the fish treated in this way is larded on one side with strips of bacon-fat, truffles, gherkins, or carrots. The mode of procedure is exactly the same as that described under the “Braising of White Meats” (No. 248). Moisten these braisings in the proportion of one-half with white wine or red wine (according as to how the fish is to be served), and for the other half use a light fish fumet. Place the fish on the drainer of a fish-kettle just large enough to hold the former, and moisten in such wise that the cooking-liquor at the beginning of the operation does not cover more than three-quarters of the depth of the fish. Unless it be for a Lenten dish, the fish may be covered with slices of bacon while cooking. In any case, baste it often. Take care not to close the lid down too tightly, in order that the liquor may be reduced simultaneously with the cooking of the fish.

When the operation is almost completed, take the lid off the fish-kettle with the view of glazing the fish; then take the former off the fire. Now withdraw the drainer with the fish upon it, and lay it athwart the top of the fish-kettle, and let it drain; tilt the fish on to a dish, and cover the latter pending its despatch to the table. Strain the stock remaining in the fish-kettle through a strainer; let it stand for ten minutes, remove all the grease that has formed on its surface, and use it to complete the sauce as I directed above.

Braised fish are generally accompanied by a garnish, the constituents of which I shall give in the particular recipes relating to braising.

781—THE GRILLING OF FISH

This method is best suited to small fish, to medium-sized chicken-turbots, and to large-sectioned fish.

Unless they are very small, it is best to gash both sides of fish intended for grilling; the reasons given above for this measure likewise apply here.

All white and naturally dry fish should be rolled in flour and besprinkled with butter or very good oil before being placed on the grill to be exposed to the heat of the fire. The flour forms a crust around the fish, which keeps it from drying and gives it that golden colour quite peculiar to objects thus treated.

Salmon, trout, red mullet, mackerel, and herrings, the flesh whereof is fatty, need not be floured, but only besprinkled with melted butter.

Owing to the somewhat fragile texture of most fish, a special double gridiron is used, by means of which they may be turned without fear of damage. This gridiron is placed upon the ordinary grill. I have already given in Part I. of this work the radical principles of grilling (Nos. 257 and 260); to this, therefore, the reader is begged to refer.

Grilled fish are served on a very hot dish, without paper or a napkin; they are garnished with fresh parsley and grooved slices of lemon.

Butter à la Maître d’Hôtel, anchovy butter, devilled sauce, Roberts’ sauce Escoffier, and butter à la Ravigote constitute the best adjuncts to grilled fish.

782—THE COOKING OF FISH AU GRATIN

I described all the details of this method under Complete Gratin (No. 269), to which I must ask the reader to refer. This process is best suited to small fish, such as sole, whiting, red mullet, chicken-turbot, &c.

783—THE CRIMPING OF FISH

Crimped fish is quite an English speciality. This method of preparation is applied more particularly to salmon, fresh cod, haddock, and skate. The first three of these fish may be prepared whole or in slices, while skate is always cut into more or less large pieces after it has been skinned on both sides.

In order to crimp a whole fish, it should be taken as it leaves the water. Lay it on something flat, and make deep lateral gashes on both its sides from head to tail. Allow a space of about one and one-half inches to two inches between each gash. This done, put the fish to soak in very cold water for an hour or so. When the fish is to be cooked sliced, divide it up as soon as it is caught, and put the slices to soak in very cold water, as in the case of the whole fish.

But does this barbarous method, which stiffens and contracts the flesh of the fish, affect its quality so materially as connoisseurs would have us believe?

It is very difficult to say, and opinions on the matter are divided. This, however, is certain, that fish prepared in the way above described is greatly relished by many.

Whether whole or sliced, crimped fish is always boiled in salted water. Its cooking presents a real difficulty, in that it must be stopped at the precise moment when it is completed, any delay in this respect proving prejudicial to the quality of the dish.

Crimped fish is served like the boiled kind, and all the sauces suited to the latter likewise obtain with the former. Besides the selected sauce, send a sauceboat to the table containing some of the cooking-liquor of the fish.

SALMON (SAUMON)

Salmon caught on the Rhine, or Dutch salmon, is generally considered the most delicate that may be had, though, in my opinion, that obtained from certain English rivers, such, for instance, as the Severn, is by no means inferior to the foregoing. Here in England this excellent fish is held in the high esteem it deserves, and the quantity consumed in this country is considerable. It is served as plainly as possible, either boiled, cold or hot, grilled, or à la Meunière; but whatever be the method of preparation, it is always accompanied by cucumber salad.

The slices of salmon, however, thick or thin, large or small, take the name of “Darnes.”

784—BOILED SALMON

Boiled salmon, whether whole or sliced, should be cooked in court-bouillon in accordance with directions given at the beginning of the chapter (No. 776). All fish sauces are suited to it, but more especially the following, viz.:—Hollandaise sauce, Mousseline sauce, Melted butter, Shrimp sauce, Nantua sauce, Cardinal sauce, &c.

Crimped salmon admits of precisely the same sauces.

785—BROILED SALMON

Cut the salmon to be grilled in slices from one inch to one and one-half inches thick. Season with table-salt, sprinkle with melted butter or oil, and grill it for the first part on a rather brisk fire, taking care to moderate the latter towards the close of the operation. Allow about twenty-five minutes for the grilling of a slice of salmon one and one-half inches thick. Butter à la Maître d’Hôtel, anchovy butter, and devilled sauce Escoffier are the most usual adjuncts to grilled salmon.

786—SAUMON A LA MEUNIÈRE

Having cut the salmon into moderately thick slices, season these, dredge them slightly, and cook them in the frying-pan with very hot clarified butter.

It is important that the salmon be set and that the cooking be rapid.

Serve it in either of the two ways indicated above (No. 778).

Various Ways of Preparing Salmon

In addition to the three methods of serving salmon described above, and those cold preparations with which I shall deal later, the fish in question lends itself to a whole host of dressings which are of the greatest utility in the varying of menus. The principles of these dressings I shall now give.

787—CADGERÉE OF SALMON

Prepare one lb. of cooked salmon, cleared of bones and skin, and cut into small pieces; four hard-boiled eggs cut into dice; one lb. of well-cooked pilaff rice; and three-quarters pint of Béchamel flavoured with curry.

Dish in a hot timbale, alternating the various products, and finish with a coating of sauce.

788—CÔTELETTES

Prepare some mousseline forcemeat for salmon, the quantity whereof will be in accordance with the number of cutlets to be made, and rub it through a coarse sieve. Line the bottom and sides of some buttered tin moulds, shaped like cutlets, with a coating one-half inch thick of the prepared forcemeat.

Fill the moulds to within one-third inch of their brims with a cold salpicon of mushrooms and truffles, thickened by means of reduced Allemande sauce, and cover this with the forcemeat.

Set the cutlets to poach, turn out the moulds; treat the cutlets à l’anglaise, and cook them with clarified butter.

Arrange in a circle round a dish, put a frill on a piece of fried bread counterfeiting the bone of the cutlet, garnish with fried parsley, and send to the table, separately, a “Dieppoise” sauce, Shrimp sauce, or a purée of fresh vegetables, such as peas, carrots, &c. In the latter case, serve at the same time a sauce in keeping with the garnish.

789—COULIBIAC DE SAUMON

Preparation.—Have ready two lbs. of ordinary brioche paste without sugar (No. 2368). Stiffen in butter one and one-half lbs. of small salmon collops, and prepare one-sixth lb. of mushrooms and one chopped onion (both of which should be fried in butter), one-half lb. of semolina kache (No. 2292) or the same weight of rice cooked in consommé; two hard-boiled eggs, chopped; and one lb. of vesiga, roughly chopped and cooked in consommé.

For this weight of cooked vesiga about two and one-half oz. of dried vesiga will be needed, which should be soaked for at least four hours in cold water, and then cooked for three and one-half hours in white consommé. It may also be cooked in water.

Roll the brioche paste into rectangles twelve inches long by eight inches wide, and spread thereon in successive layers the kache or the rice, the collops of salmon, the chopped vesiga, the eggs, the mushrooms, and the onion, and finish with a layer of kache or rice. Moisten the edges of the paste and draw the longest ends of it towards each other over the enumerated layers of garnish, and join them so as to properly enclose the latter.

Now fold the two remaining ends over to the centre in a similar way. Place the coulibiac thus formed on a baking-tray, and take care to turn it over in order that the joining parts of the paste lie underneath.

Set the paste to rise for twenty-five minutes, sprinkle some melted butter over the coulibiac, sprinkle with some very fine raspings, make a slit in the top for the escape of vapour, and bake in a moderate oven for forty-five or fifty minutes. Fill the coulibiac with freshly-melted butter when withdrawing it from the oven.

Darnes de Saumon

The few recipes dealing with “Darnes de Saumon,” which I give below, may also be adapted to whole salmon after the size of the fish has been taken into account in measuring the time allowed for cooking.

790—DARNE DE SAUMON CHAMBORD

As already explained, the term “darne” stands for a piece of salmon cut from the middle of that fish, and the size of a darne is in proportion to the number of people it is intended for.

Proceed after the manner directed under “The Braising of Fish” (No. 780); moisten in the proportion of two-thirds with excellent red wine and one-third with fish stock, calculating the quantity in such wise that it may cover no more than two-thirds of the depth of the darne. Bring to the boil, then set to braise gently, and glaze the darne at the last moment.

Garnish and Sauce.—Garnish with quenelles of truffled mousseline forcemeat for fish, moulded by means of a spoon; two large ornamented quenelles; truffles fashioned like olives; pieces of milt dipped in Villeroy sauce, treated à l’anglaise and fried when about to dish up; small gudgeon or smelts treated similarly to the milt, and trussed crayfish cooked in court-bouillon.

The sauce is a Genevoise, made from the reduced cooking-liquor of the darne.

Dishing Up.—Surround the darne by the garnishes enumerated, arranging them tastefully, and pierce it with two hatelets, each garnished with a small truffle, an ornamented quenelle, and a crayfish.

Send the sauce to the table separately.

791—DARNE DE SAUMON DAUMONT

Poach the darne in a court-bouillon prepared beforehand.

Dishing Up and Garnish.—Surround the darne by medium-sized mushrooms stewed in butter and garnished with small crayfish tails cohered by means of a few tablespoonfuls of Nantua sauce; small round quenelles of mousseline forcemeat for fish, decorated with truffles, and some slices of milt treated à l’anglaise, and fried when about to dish up.

Serve the Nantua sauce separately.

792—DARNE DE SAUMON LUCULLUS

Skin one side of the darne, lard it with truffles, and braise it in champagne.

The Garnish Round the Darne.—Very small garnished patties of crayfish tails; small cassolettes of milt; small mousselines of oysters, poached in dariole-moulds.

Sauce.—The braising-liquor of the darne finished by means of ordinary and crayfish butter in equal quantities. Send it to the table separately.

793—DARNE DE SAUMON NESSELRODE

Remove the spine and all other internal bones. Stuff the darne with raw lobster mousse stiffened by means of a little pike forcemeat.

Line a well-buttered, round and even raised-pie mould with a thin layer of hot-water, raised-pie paste (this is made from one lb. of flour, four oz. of lard, one egg, and a little lukewarm water), which should be prepared in advance and made somewhat stiff. Now garnish the inside of the pie with thin slices of bacon and place the darne upright in it. (To simplify the operation the darne may be stuffed at this stage.) Cover the pie with a layer of the same paste, pinch its edges with those of the original lining, make a slit in the top for the steam to escape, and cook in a good oven.

When the pie is almost baked, prod it repeatedly with a larding-needle; when the latter is withdrawn clear of all stuffing the pie should be taken from the oven. This done, turn it upside down in order to drain away the melted bacon and other liquids inside it, but do not let it drop from the mould. Then tilt it on to a dish and take off the mould. Do not break the crust except at the dining-table.

Sauce.—Serve an American sauce with the pie, the former being prepared from the remains of the lobsters used in making the mousse, finished with cream, and garnished with very fine oysters (cleared of their beards), poached when about to dish up.

794—DARNE DE SAUMON RÉGENCE

Braise the darne in white wine in accordance with the directions given in No. 780.

Garnish.—Surround the darne by spoon-moulded quenelles of whiting forcemeat prepared with crayfish butter, oysters cleared of their beards and poached, small, very white mushrooms, and poached slices of milt.

Normande sauce finished with truffle essence.

795—DARNE DE SAUMON ROYALE

Braise the darne in Sauterne wine.

Garnish.—Bunches of crayfishes’ tails, small quenelles of mousseline forcemeat for fish, small mushrooms, slices of truffle, and little balls of potato raised by means of the large, round spoon-cutter, and cooked à l’anglaise.

Send a Normande sauce separately.

796—DARNE DE SAUMON VALOIS

Poach the darne in a white wine court-bouillon.

Garnish.—Potato balls raised with the spoon-cutter or turned to the shape of olives, and cooked in salted water, poached slices of milt, and trussed crayfish cooked in court-bouillon.

Send a Valois sauce separately.

797—MOUSSELINE DE SAUMON

In Part I. I dealt with the preparation of mousseline forcemeat (No. 195), and also the method of poaching spoon-moulded quenelles (No. 205). Now mousselines are only large quenelles which derive their name from the very light forcemeat of which they are composed. These mousseline quenelles are always moulded with the ordinary tablespoon, they are garnished on top with a fine, raw slice of the fish under treatment, and poached after the manner already described.

798—MOUSSELINE ALEXANDRA

Having made the salmon mousseline forcemeat, mould the quenelles and place them, one by one, in a buttered sautépan. Place a small, round and very thin slice of salmon on each, and poach them in a very moderate oven with lid on the utensil containing them.

Drain on a piece of linen, arrange them in a circle on a dish, place a slice of truffle upon each slice of salmon, coat with Mornay sauce, and glaze.

Garnish the centre of the dish with very small peas or asparagus-heads cohered with butter just before dishing up.

799—MOUSSELINE DE SAUMON A LA TOSCA

Combine one and one-half oz. of crayfish cream-cullis with each pound of the salmon mousseline forcemeat. Mould and poach as above, drain, and arrange in a circle on a dish.

Garnish each mousseline with a thin slice of milt cooked in lightly-browned butter, four crayfish tails cut lengthwise into two, and a slice of truffle at each end. Coat with a light Mornay sauce, finished with crayfish butter, and glaze quickly.

N.B.—In addition to these two recipes, all the garnishes suitable for fillets of sole may be applied to mousselines. Garnishes of early-season vegetable purées also suit them admirably, and therein lies an almost inexhaustible source of variety.

800—COLD SALMON

When salmon is to be served cold it should, as far as possible, be cooked, either whole or in large pieces, in the court-bouillon given under No. 163 and cooled in the latter. Pieces cooked separately may seem better or may be more easily made to look sightly, but their meat is drier than that of the salmon cooked whole. And what is lost in appearance with the very large pieces is more than compensated for by their extra quality.

In dishing cold salmon the skin may be removed and the fillets bared, so that the fish may be more easily decorated, but the real gourmet will always prefer the salmon served in its natural silver vestment.

In decorating cold salmon use pieces of cucumber, anchovy fillets, capers, slices of tomato, curled-leaf parsley, &c.

I am not partial to the decorating of salmon with softened butter, coloured or not, laid on by means of the piping-bag. Apart from the fact that this method of decoration is rarely artistic, the butter used combines badly with the cold sauces and the meat of the salmon on the diner’s plate. Very green tarragon leaves, chervil, lobster coral, &c., afford a more natural and more delicate means of ornamentation. The only butter fit to be served with cold salmon is Montpellier butter (No. 153), though this, in fact, is but a cold sauce often resorted to for the coating of the cold fish in question.

Among the garnishes which suit cold salmon, I might mention small peeled, and emptied tomatoes garnished with some kind of salad; hard-boiled eggs, either wholly stuffed, or stuffed in halves or in quarters, barquettes, tartlets and cassolettes made from cucumber or beetroot, parboiled until almost completely cooked and garnished with a purée of tunny, of sardines, of anchovies, &c.; small aspics of shrimps or of crayfishes’ tails; small slices of lobster, &c.

Almost all the cold sauces may accompany cold salmon.

801—SAUMON FROID, OU DARNE DE SAUMON FROID A LA ROYALE

Having drained and dried the salmon or the darne, remove the skin from one of its sides, and coat the bared fillets with a layer of a preparation of mousse de saumon, letting it lie rather more thickly over the middle than the sides. Coat the layer of mousse with mayonnaise sauce thickened by means of fish jelly, and leave to set.

Now let some clear fish jelly set on the bottom of the dish to be sent to the table; place the salmon or the darne on this jelly, and surround the piece with a border consisting of Montpellier butter, using for the purpose a piping-bag fitted with a grooved pipe.

Decorate the centre of the piece by means of a fine fleur-de-lys made from truffles, and encircle it with two royale crowns made from anchovy fillets.

802—SAUMON FROID OU DARNE DE SAUMON A LA PARISIENNE

Remove the skin in suchwise as to leave the bared portion in the shape of a regular rectangle, equidistant from the tail and the head; or, in the case of a darne, occupying two-thirds of its surface.

Cover the bared portion with mayonnaise sauce thickened with fish jelly and leave it to set.

Now stand the piece on a small cushion of rice or semolina, shaping the latter like the piece itself; trim the sauced rectangle with a border of Montpellier butter, laid on by means of a piping-bag fitted with a small grooved pipe. Garnish the centre of the rectangle with pieces of lobster coral, the chopped, hard-boiled white and yolk of an egg, chervil leaves, &c.

Encircle the piece with a border of small artichoke-bottoms, garnished, in the form of a dome, with a small macédoine of vegetables cohered with cleared mayonnaise.

Send a mayonnaise sauce to the table separately.

803—SAUMON FROID OU DARNE DE SAUMON FROID A LA RIGA

Prepare a salmon or a darne as in the preceding recipe, and dish it on a cushion in order that it may be slightly raised.

Surround it with grooved sections of cucumber hollowed to represent small timbales, well parboiled, marinaded with a few drops of oil and lemon-juice and filled with a vegetable salad thickened with mayonnaise; indented, halved eggs filled with caviare; and tartlets of vegetable salad cohered with mayonnaise, and garnished, each with a crayfish-shell stuffed with crayfish mousse; alternate these various garnishes, and encircle with a border of jelly dice.

804—SAUMON FROID, OU DARNE DE SAUMON FROID EN BELLE-VUE

Skin the salmon or the darne, set the piece upright upon the belly side, and decorate the fillets with pieces of truffles, poached white of egg, chervil leaves, and tarragon, &c.

Coat the garnish with a little melted fish aspic so as to fix it.

This done, sprinkle the piece, again and again, with the same melted aspic jelly in order to cover it with a kind of transparent veil.

Place the piece thus prepared in a crystal receptacle similarly shaped to the fish, and fill the former to the brim with very clear, melted jelly.

When dishing up, incrust the receptacle

805—SAUMON FROID, OU DARNE DE SAUMON FROID AU CHAMBERTIN

Poach the salmon or the darne in a court-bouillon consisting of very clear fish fumet and Chambertin wine, in equal quantities, and leave to cool. Prepare an aspic jelly from the court-bouillon.

Skin and decorate the salmon or the darne and glaze it with white aspic jelly, exactly as directed above, in the case of the Belle-vue.

Dish in the same way, in a crystal receptacle, and fill the latter with the prepared aspic jelly. Serve on a block of ice, or with broken ice around the utensil.

806—SAUMON FROID, OU DARNE DE SAUMON FROID A LA NORVEGIENNE

Skin and decorate the salmon or the darne, and glaze it with white aspic jelly precisely as in No. 804.

Let a coating of very clear jelly set on the bottom of the dish to be sent to the table. Upon this aspic jelly lay a cushion the same shape as the fish, of semolina, or of carved rice.

Set the piece (salmon or darne), decorated and glazed, upon this cushion, and lay thereon a row of fine prawns, cleared of their abdominal shell.

Surround with a garnish of small cucumber timbales, well parboiled, marinaded, and garnished dome-fashion, with a purée of smoked salmon; halved, hard-boiled eggs, glazed with aspic; very small tomatoes, or halved medium-sized ones, peeled, pressed in the corner of a towel to return them to their original shape, stuck with a bit of parsley-stalk, and decorated with leaves of green butter moulded by means of the piping-bag; and small barquettes of cooked and marinaded beetroot, garnished with shrimps’ tails cohered with mayonnaise.

Send a Russe sauce separately.

807—CÔTELETTES

Liberally butter some tin cutlet-shaped moulds. Line their bottoms and sides with a very red slice of salmon, as thin as a piece of cardboard. This slice should be long enough to project outside the brim of the mould to the extent of one-half inch.

Garnish the insides of the moulds with well-seasoned salmon meat, and draw the projecting lengths of salmon across this meat so as to enclose the latter and finish off the cutlets.

Arrange the moulds on a baking-tray; poach the cutlets, dry, in a moderate oven; turn them out of their moulds on to another tray as soon as they are poached, and let them cool. Then coat them with a half-melted aspic, and decorate them according to fancy, either with very green peas or a leaf of chervil with a bit of lobster coral in its centre—in a word, something simple and neat.

These cutlets, which are generally served at ball-suppers, may be dished on a tazza, on a cushion of rice, semolina, corn-flour, or stearine, and laid almost vertically against a pyramid of vegetable salad cohered by means of mayonnaise with aspic. In this case the dish is finished off with a hatelet stuck into the middle of the pyramid.

The cutlets may also be arranged in a circle on a flat, shallow, silver or crystal dish, and covered with a delicate cold melted jelly.

Whatever be the selected method of dishing, always send to the table with the cutlet a sauceboat of cold sauce.

808—MÉDAILLONS DE SAUMON

These médaillons have the same purpose as the cutlets already described, and are prepared thus:—

Cut some small slices, one-third inch thick, from a fillet of salmon.

Arrange them on a buttered tray; poach them, dry, in a moderate oven, and cool them under a light weight.

Now trim them neatly, with an even cutter, oval or round, in accordance with the shape they are intended to have.

Coat them, according to their purpose, either with mayonnaise sauce or one of its derivatives, thickened with jelly, or a white, pink, or green chaud-froid sauce. Decorate it in any way that may be fancied, and glaze them with cold melted aspic jelly.

Dish after the manner described under “Côtelettes” (see above).

809—MAYONNAISE DE SAUMON

Garnish the bottom of a salad-bowl with moderately seasoned, ciseled lettuce. Cover with cold, cooked and flaked salmon, thoroughly cleared of all skin and bones.

Coat with mayonnaise sauce, and decorate with anchovy fillets, capers, stoned olives, small slices or roundels or quarters of hard-boiled eggs, small hearts of lettuce, a border of little roundels of radish, &c.

810—SALADE DE SAUMON

This preparation comprises the same ingredients as the above, with the exception of the mayonnaise sauce. The decorating garnish is placed directly upon the salmon, and the whole is seasoned in precisely the same way as an ordinary salad.

TROUT.

From the culinary standpoint, trout are divided into two quite distinct classes, viz., large trout, whereof the typical specimen is Salmon-trout, and small or fresh-water trout.

811—TRUITE SAUMONÉE

In its many preparations, salmon-trout may be replaced by salmon, and all the recipes relating to the former may be adapted to the latter.

In any case, however, as its size is less than that of salmon, it is very rarely cut into darnes, being more generally served whole.

The few recipes that follow are proper to salmon-trout.

812—TRUITE A LA CAMBACÉRÈS

Select a male trout in preference; clean it, and remove its gills without opening it in the region of the belly.

Skin it on one side, starting at a distance of one inch from the head and finishing within two and one-half inches of the root of the tail.

Lard the bared portions with truffles and the red part only of carrots cut into rods.

This done, spread out a napkin, lay the trout thereon, belly under, and, with a sharp knife, separate the two fillets from the bones, beginning in the region of the head and proceeding straight down to where the body converges towards the tail.

The spine being thus liberated, sever it at both ends; i.e., from the tail and the head, and withdraw it, together with all the adhering ventral bones. The intestines are then removed, the inside of the fish is well cleaned, the fillets are seasoned on their insides, and the trout is stuffed with a mousseline forcemeat of raw crayfish. The two fillets are drawn together, and the trout, thus reconstructed, is covered with thin slices of bacon and laid on the drainer of the fish-kettle and braised in Sauterne wine.

When the fish is done, remove the slices of bacon, glaze it, and dish it up. Surround it with alternate heaps of morels tossed in butter and milt à la Meunière.

Send to the table, separately, a fine Béchamel sauce, combined with the braising-liquor of the trout, strained and reduced, and finished with crayfish butter.

813—TRUITES SAUMONÉES FROIDES

We are now concerned with a whole series of unpublished “Trout” preparations, which are at once of superfine delicacy and agreeable aspect, and which admit of clean and easy dishing.

Cook a trout weighing from two to three lbs. in court-bouillon, and let it cool in the latter. Then drain it; sever the head and tail from the body, and put them aside. Completely skin the whole fish, and carefully separate the two fillets from the bones.

Deck each fillet with tarragon and chervil leaves, lobster coral, poached white of eggs, &c., and set them, back to back, upon a mousse of tomatoes lying in a special, long white or coloured porcelain dish about one and one-half to two inches deep.

Replace the head and tail, and cover the whole with a coating of half-melted, succulent fish aspic, somewhat clear. Let the aspic set, and incrust the dish containing the trout in a block of ice, or surround it with the latter broken.

814—PREPARATION DE LA MOUSSE DE TOMATES

This mousse, like those which I shall give later, is really a bavarois without sugar. Its recipe is exactly the same as that of the “bavarois of fruit,” except with regard to the question of sugar.

Cook one-half lb. of tomato pulp (cleared of skin and seeds, and roughly chopped) in one oz. of butter. When the pulp has thoroughly mingled with the butter, add thereto two tablespoonfuls of velouté thickened by means of eight leaves of gelatine per quart of the sauce.

Rub through tammy, and add to the preparation, when almost cold, half of its volume of barely-whipped cream. Taste the mousse; season with a few drops of lemon juice, and if it still seems flat, add the necessary salt and a very little cayenne.

N.B.—It will be seen that I prescribe cream only half-whipped. This precaution, however, does not apply to “Mousse de Tomates” alone, but to all mousses. Well-whipped cream imparts a dry and woolly taste to them, whereas, when it is only half-whipped, it renders them unctuous and fresh to the palate.

From the point of view of delicacy, the respective results of the two methods do not bear comparison.

815—OTHER PREPARATIONS OF TROUT after the same recipe

By proceeding exactly as directed in the foregoing recipe, and by substituting one of the following mousses for the “Mousse de Tomates,” it will be found that considerable variety may be introduced into menus:—

1. Crayfish Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with crayfish tails and tarragon leaves.

2. Lobster Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with slices of lobster, coral, and chervil.

3. Shrimp Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with crayfish tails and capers.

4. Capsicum Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with strips of grilled capsicum.

5. Physalia Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with chervil, tarragon, and bunches of physalia around the fillets.

6. Green Pimentos Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with strips of green pimentos.

7. Early-season Herb Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with chopped, hard-boiled eggs, and chopped parsley.

8. Volnay Mousse with fillets of trout, decked with anchovy fillets, capers, and olives.

9. Chambertin Mousse with fillets of trout decked like No. 8.

N.B.—In the making of “Mousse au Volnay” and “au Chambertin” the base of the preparations is supplied by cleared velouté, to which is added the reduced cooking-liquor of the trout.

All these recipes are equally suitable for sole or chicken-turbot.

815a—ONDINES AUX CREVETTES ROSES

Prepare a very delicate trout mousse, mould it in egg-moulds, and garnish the centre with trimmed prawns’ tails. Let the mousse set; then speedily turn the ondinesmousses.

816—FRESH-WATER TROUT

The best are those procured in mountainous districts, where the clear water they inhabit is constantly refreshed by strong currents.

The two leading methods of preparing them are called, respectively, “Au bleu” and “à la Meunière.” Having already described the latter, I shall now give my attention to “Truite au bleu.”

This preparation is held in very high esteem in Switzerland and Germany, where fresh-water trout are not only plentiful, but of excellent quality.

817—TRUITES AU BLEU

The essential condition for this dish consists in having live trout. Prepare a court-bouillon with plenty of vinegar (No. 163), and keep it boiling in a rather shallow basin.

About ten minutes before dishing them, take the trout out of water; stun them by a blow on the head; empty and clean them very quickly, and plunge them into the boiling liquid, where they will immediately shrivel, while their skin will break in all directions.

A few minutes will suffice to cook trout the average weight of which is one-third lb.

Drain them and dish them immediately upon a napkin, with curled-leaf parsley all round. Serve them with a Hollandaise sauce or melted butter.

N.B.—Fresh-water trout may also be served fried or grilled, but neither of these methods of preparation suits them so well as “à la Meunière” or “au bleu,” which I have given.

SOLES.

Sole may be served whole or filleted, and a large number of the recipes given for the whole fish may be adapted to its fillets.

As a rule, the fillets are made to appear on the menu of a dinner owing to the fact that they dish more elegantly and are more easily served than the whole fish, the latter being generally served at luncheons.

Nevertheless, in cases where great ceremony is not observed at a dinner, soles may well be served whole, inasmuch as no hard-and-fast rule has ever obtained in this matter.

818—SOLE ALICE

This sole is prepared, or rather its preparation is completed, at the table.

Have an excellent fish fumet (No. 11), short and very white. Trim the sole; put it into a special, deep earthenware dish, the bottom of which should be buttered; pour the fumet over it and poach gently.

Now send it to the table with a plate containing separate heaps of one finely-chopped onion, a little powdered thyme, and three finely-crushed biscottes.

In the dining-room the waiter places the dish on a chafer, and, taking off the sole, he raises the fillets therefrom, and places them between two hot plates. He then adds to the cooking-liquor of the sole the chopped onion, which he leaves to cook for a few moments, the powdered thyme and a sufficient quantity of the biscotte raspings to allow of thickening the whole.

At the last minute he adds six raw oysters and one oz. of butter divided into small pieces.

As soon as the oysters are stiff, he returns the fillets of sole to the dish, besprinkles them copiously with the sauce, and then serves them very hot.

N.B.—In order to promote the poaching of the soles, more particularly when they are large, the fillets on the upper side of the fish should be slightly separated from the bones. By this means the heat is able to reach the inside of the fish very quickly, and the operation is accelerated.

The sole is always laid on the dish with its opened side undermost—that is to say, on its back.

819—SOLE MORNAY

Lay the sole on a buttered dish; sprinkle a little fish fumet over it, and add one-half oz. of butter divided into small pieces. Poach gently.

Coat the bottom of the dish on which the sole is to be served with Mornay sauce; drain the fish, lay it on the prepared dish; cover it with the same sauce; sprinkle with grated Gruyère and Parmesan, and glaze at a Salamander.

820—SOLE MORNAY DES PROVENÇAUX

This sole, which used to be served at the famous restaurant of the “Frères Provençaux,” was prepared, and always may be prepared, as follows:—

Poach the sole in fish fumet and butter, as directed in the preceding recipe; drain it, and place it on a dish; cover it with white-wine sauce; sprinkle liberally with grated cheese, and glaze quickly.

821—SOLE AU CHAMPAGNE

Poach the sole in a buttered dish with one-half pint of champagne. Dish it; reduce its cooking-liquor to half; add thereto one-sixth pint of velouté, and complete with one and one-half oz. of best butter.

Cover the sole with this sauce; glaze, and garnish each side of the dish with a little heap of a julienne of filleted sole, seasoned, dredged, and tossed in clarified butter at the last moment in order to have it very crisp.

N.B.—By substituting a good white wine for the champagne, a variety of dishes may be made, among which may be mentioned: Soles au Chablis, Soles au Sauterne, Sole au Samos, Sole au Château

822—SOLE COLBERT

On the upper side of the fish separate the fillets from the spine, and break the latter in several places. Dip the sole in milk; roll it in flour; treat it à l’anglaise, and roll the separated fillets back a little, so that they may be quite free from the bones.

Fry; drain on a piece of linen; remove the bones, and fill the resulting space with butter à la Maître

Serve the sole on a very hot dish.

823—SOLE A LA DAUMONT

Bone the sole; i.e., sever the spine near the tail and the head; remove it, and leave those portions of the fillets which lie on the remaining extremities of it intact. Garnish the inside with whiting forcemeat finished with crayfish butter, and rearrange the fillets in such wise as to give a natural and untouched appearance to the fish. Poach it on a buttered dish with one-sixth pint of white wine, the same quantity of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and one oz. of butter cut into small lumps.

Drain and dish the sole, and cover it with Nantua sauce. Place around it four mushrooms stewed in butter and garnished with crayfish tails in Nantua sauce; four small, round quenelles of whiting forcemeat with cream, decked with truffles; and four slices of milt treated à l’anglaise and fried at the last moment.

824—SOLE DORÉE

As I explained under “Fish à la Meunière” (No. 778), “Sole Dorée” is a sole fried in clarified butter, dished dry, and garnished with slices of carefully peeled lemon.

825—SOLE DUGLÉRÉ

All fish treated after this recipe, with the exception of soles, should be divided up.

Put the sole in a buttered dish with one and one-half oz. of chopped onion, one-half lb. of peeled and concassed tomatoes, a little roughly-chopped parsley, a pinch of table salt, a very little pepper, and one-eighth pint of white wine. Set to poach gently, and then dish the sole.

Reduce the cooking-liquor; thicken it with two tablespoonfuls of fish velouté; complete with one oz. of butter and a few drops of lemon juice, and cover the fish with this sauce.

826—SOLE GRILLÉE

Season the sole; sprinkle oil thereon, and grill the fish very gently. Send it, garnished with slices of lemon, on a very hot dish.

827—SOLE GRILLÉE, AUX HUÎTRES A L’AMÉRICAINE

This sole may be either grilled or poached, almost dry, in butter and lemon juice. With the procedure remaining the same, it may also be prepared in fillets. Whatever be the mode of procedure, serve it on a very hot dish, and surround it at the last moment with six oysters poached in a little boiling Worcestershire sauce.

Cover the sole immediately with very hot fried bread-crumbs, and add thereto a pinch of chopped parsley.

828—SOLE A LA FERMIÈRE

Put the sole, seasoned, on a buttered dish with a few aromatics. Add one-third pint of excellent red wine, and poach gently with lid on.

Dish up; strain the cooking-liquor, and reduce it to half; thicken it with a lump of manied butter the size of a hazel-nut, and finish the sauce with one oz. of butter.

Encircle the sole with a border of mushrooms sliced raw and tossed in butter. Pour the prepared sauce over the sole, and set to glaze quickly.

829—SOLE A LA HOLLANDAISE

Break the spine of the sole by folding it over in several places. Put the fish in a deep dish; cover it with slightly salted water; set to boil, and then poach gently for ten minutes with lid on.

Drain and dish on a napkin with very green parsley all round. Serve at the same time some plainly boiled potatoes, freshly done, and two oz. of melted butter.

830—SOLE SAINT-GERMAIN

Season the sole; dip it in melted butter, and cover it with fresh bread-crumbs, taking care to pat the latter with the flat of a knife, in order that they may combine with the butter to form a kind of crust. Sprinkle with some more melted butter, and grill the fish gently so that its coating of bread-crumbs may acquire a nice golden colour. Dish the sole, and surround it with potatoes turned to the shape of olives, and cooked in butter.

Send a Béarnaise sauce to the table separately.

831—SOLE FLORENTINE

Poach the sole in a fish fumet and butter. Spread a layer of shredded spinach, stewed in butter, on the bottom of a dish; place the sole thereon; cover it with Mornay sauce; sprinkle with a little grated cheese, and set to glaze quickly in the oven or at a salamander.

832—SOLE MONTREUIL

Poach the sole in one-sixth pint of fish fumet, one-sixth pint of white wine, and one-half oz. of butter.

Drain as soon as poached, and surround with potato-balls the size of walnuts, cooked in salted water, and kept whole. Cover the sole with white-wine sauce, and lay a thread of shrimp sauce over the garnish.

833—SOLE AU GRATIN

Partly separate the fillets from the bones on the upper side of the fish, and slip a lump of butter, the size of a walnut, under each.

This done, place the sole on a well-buttered gratin dish, on the bottom of which a pinch of chopped shallots and parsley has been sprinkled, together with one or two tablespoonfuls of Gratin sauce.

Lay four cooked mushrooms along the sole, and surround it with one oz. of raw mushrooms, cut into rather thin slices.

Add two tablespoonfuls of white wine; cover the sole with Gratin sauce; sprinkle with fine raspings followed by melted butter, and set the gratin to form in pursuance of the directions given under complete Gratin (No. 269).

When taking the sole from the oven, sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice and a pinch of chopped parsley upon it, and serve at once.

834—SOLE AU CHAMBERTIN

Season the sole and poach it on a buttered dish with one-third pint of Chambertin wine.

As soon as it is poached, drain it, dish it, and keep it hot. Reduce the cooking-liquor to half, add thereto a little freshly-ground pepper and two or three drops of lemon-juice, thicken with a lump of manied butter the size of a walnut, and finish the sauce with one and one-half oz. of butter.

Cover the sole with the sauce, set to glaze quickly, and garnish both sides of the dish with a little heap of julienne of filleted sole, seasoned, dredged, and tossed in clarified butter at the last moment so that it may be very crisp.

835—Remarks concerning “SOLES AUX GRANDS VINS”

Taking recipe No. 834 as a model, and putting into requisition all the good wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux, the following varieties are obtained, viz.:—Soles au Volnay, au Pommard, au Romanée, au Clos-Vougeot, or soles au Saint-Estèphe, au Château-Larose, au Saint-Émilion, &c., &c.

836—SOLE MONTGOLFIER

Poach the sole in one-sixth pint of white wine and as much of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms. Drain, dish, and cover it with a white wine sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor of the sole and one tablespoonful of a fine julienne of spiny lobster’s tail, mushrooms, and very black truffles. Surround the sole with a border of little palmettes made from puff-paste and cooked without colouration.

837—SOLE SUR LE PLAT

Partly separate the fillets from the bones on the upper side of the fish, and slip a piece of butter the size of a walnut under each.

Lay the sole on a liberally buttered dish, moisten with one-fifth pint of the cooking-liquor of fish, and add a few drops of lemon-juice.

Cook in the oven, basting often the while, until the cooking-liquor has by reduction acquired the consistence of a syrup and covers the sole with a translucent and glossy coat.

N.B.—By substituting for the mushroom cooking-liquor a good white or red wine, to which a little melted pale meat-glaze has been added, the following series of dishes may be prepared, viz.:—Sole sur le plat au Chambertin. Sole sur le plat au vin rouge.Sole sur le plat au Champagne. Sole sur le plat au Chablis, &c., &c.

838—SOLE RÉGENCE

Poach the sole in a little white wine and two-thirds oz. of butter cut into small pieces.

Drain the sole, dish it, and surround it with six quenelles of whiting forcemeat finished with crayfish butter, moulded by means of a small spoon; four poached oysters (cleared of their beards); four small cooked and very white mushrooms; four small truffles, turned to the shape of olives; and four small poached slices of milt. Cover the sole and the garnish with a Normande sauce finished with a little truffle essence.

839—SOLE PORTUGAISE

Poach the sole in white wine and the cooking-liquor of fish. Drain, dish, and surround with a garnish consisting of two medium-sized tomatoes, peeled, pressed, minced, cooked in butter, and combined with minced and cooked mushrooms, and a large pinch of chopped chives.

Coat the sole with white wine sauce, plentifully buttered, and take care that none of the sauce touches the garnish.

Set to glaze quickly, sprinkle the garnish with a pinch of chopped parsley when taking the sole from the oven, and serve immediately.

840—SOLE CUBAT

Poach the sole in one-fifth pint of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms and one-half oz. of butter cut into small pieces.

Coat the bottom of the dish intended for the sole with a purée of mushrooms, place the drained sole on this purée, lay six fine slices of truffle along the fish, coat with Mornay sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and glaze quickly.

841—SOLE AUX HUÎTRES

Open and poach six oysters. Poach the sole in the liquor of the oysters, drain it, dish it, and surround it with the oysters (cleared of their beards).

Coat with a white wine sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor of the sole, and glaze quickly.

842—SOLE A LA MEUNIÈRE

Proceed for this dish as directed under “Fish à la Meunière” (No. 778).

843—SOLE MEUNIÈRE AUX CONCOMBRES, otherwise DORIA

Prepare a sole à la Meunière. Garnish it at both ends with little heaps of cucumber, turned and cooked in butter with a little salt and a pinch of sugar.

844—SOLE MEUNIÈRE AUX AUBERGINES

Prepare a sole à la Meunière in the usual way. Surround it with a fine border of egg-plant rundles one-third inch thick, seasoned, dredged, and fried in clarified butter, just in time to be arranged round the sole when it is ready. The question of time is important, for if the fried rundles be allowed to wait at all they very quickly lose their crispness.

845—SOLE MEUNIÈRE AUX CÈPES

Prepare the sole à la Meunière in the usual way and surround it with a border of sliced cèpes frizzled in butter just before dishing up.

846—SOLE MEUNIÈRE AUX MORILLES

Surround the sole with very fresh morels cooked in salted water and then tossed in butter just before dishing up. Sprinkle a pinch of chopped parsley over the morels.

847—SOLE MEUNIÈRE AUX RAISINS

The sole being ready, encircle it with fresh skinned Muscadel grapes prepared in advance.

848—SOLE MEUNIÈRE A L’ORANGE

When the sole is cooked and dished, lay thereon a row of orange slices, peeled to the pulp and thoroughly pipped, or some sections of oranges, likewise peeled to the pulp and carefully pipped. This done, cover the sole and the garnish with lightly-browned butter and serve instantly.

849—SOLE LUTÈCE

Line the bottom of the dish intended for the sole with a coating of shredded spinach tossed in lightly-browned butter. Place the sole, prepared à la Meunière, upon this spinach; lay a few rundles of onion and slices of artichoke-bottom tossed in butter upon the fish; and on either side of the sole lay a border of potato-slices, freshly cooked in salted water and well browned in butter.

At the last moment cover the whole with lightly-browned butter.

850—SOLE MURAT

Toss in butter, separately (1) one medium-sized potato cut into dice; (2) two small raw artichoke-bottoms, likewise cut into dice. Prepare the sole à la Meunière, dish it, and surround it with the tossed potato and artichoke-bottom, mixed when cooked. Lay on the sole five slices of tomato, one-half inch thick, seasoned, dredged, and tossed in very hot oil; sprinkle a few drops of pale melted meat-glaze, a little lemon-juice, and a pinch of concassed parsley over the sole, and cover the whole with slightly-browned butter. Serve instantly.

851—SOLE A LA PROVENÇALE

Poach the sole in one-sixth pint of fish fumet, two tablespoonfuls of oil and a piece, the size of a pea, of garlic, well crushed. Drain and dish the sole. Coat it with Provençale sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor, and sprinkle a little concassed parsley over it.

Surround the sole with four little tomatoes and four medium-sized mushrooms stuffed with duxelles flavoured with a mite of garlic; these latter should be put in the oven just in time for them to be ready at the dishing up of the fish.

852—SOLE ARLÉSIENNE

Poach the sole in a little fish fumet. Dish it, reduce the fumet, and add thereto the following garnish:—Cook a little chopped onion in butter, add two medium-sized, peeled, emptied, and concassed tomatoes, a bit of garlic, and some concassed parsley. Cook with lid on, add the reduced fumet and twelve pieces of vegetable-marrow, turned to the shape of olives and cooked in butter.

Cover the sole with this garnish and set a little heap of fried onion at each end of the dish.

853—SOLE A LA ROYALE

Poach the sole in a few tablespoonfuls of fish fumet and two-thirds oz. of butter cut into small lumps. Dish the sole and set upon it four small cooked mushrooms, four small quenelles of fish forcemeat, four crayfishes’ tails, and four slices of truffle.

Surround the sole with potato-balls, raised by means of the round spoon-cutter and cooked à l’anglaise, and coat the sole and garnish with Normande sauce.

854—SOLE A LA RUSSE

Prepare twelve grooved and very thin roundels of carrots, cut a small onion into fine slices. Put these vegetables into and cut a small onion into fine slices. Put these vegetables into one-seventh pint of white wine, and one-third pint of fish fumet. Cook and, in the process, reduce the moistening by half, and pour this preparation into a deep dish.

Partly separate the fillets from the bones on the upper side of the sole, slip a piece of butter, the size of a walnut, under each fillet, and put the fish into a deep dish containing the preparation. Poach and baste frequently the while.

As soon as it is poached, dish the sole, also the vegetables used in cooking, and keep the whole hot.

Reduce the cooking-liquor to one-eighth pint, add a few drops of lemon juice, and finish it away from the fire with one and one-half oz. of butter. Coat the sole and the garnish with this sauce.

855—SOLE RICHELIEU

Prepare the sole exactly as directed under “Sole à la Colbert” (No. 822). When it is fried, remove the bones and dish it. Garnish the inside with butter à la maître-d’hôtel, and lay thereon a row of sliced truffles.

856—SOLE NORMANDE

Poach the sole on a buttered dish with one-sixth pint of fish fumet, and the same quantity of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms. Drain and dish the sole, and surround it with mussels, poached oysters (cleared of their beards), shrimps’ tails, and small cooked mushrooms. Put the sole in the oven for a few minutes, tilt the dish in order to get rid of all liquid, and coat the sole and the garnish with Normande sauce. Make a little garland of pale meat-glaze on the sauce, and finish the garnish with the following articles:—Six fine slices of truffle set in a row upon the sole; six small crusts in the shape of lozenges, fried in clarified butter and arranged round the truffles; four gudgeons treated à l’anglaise and fried at the last moment; and four medium-sized trussed crayfish cooked in court-bouillon.

Set the gudgeons and the crayfish round the dish.

857—SOLE MARGUERY

Poach the sole in white wine and fish fumet in the proportions already given.

Drain and dish the sole, and surround it with a border of mussels and shrimps’ tails. Coat the sole and the garnish with white wine sauce, well finished with butter, and set to glaze quickly.

858—SOLE MARINIÈRE

Liberally butter a dish, sprinkle a coffeespoonful of chopped shallots on the bottom, lay the sole thereon, and poach the latter with one-sixth pint of white wine and the same quantity of the very clear cooking-liquor of mussels. Drain and dish the sole, surround it with mussels (cleared of their beards), and keep it hot.

Reduce the cooking-liquor to half; thicken with a tablespoonful of velouté, and the yolks of two eggs, and finish it, away from the fire, with two and one-half oz. of butter and a pinch of chopped parsley.

Tilt the dish so as to rid it of the liquid accumulated on the bottom, coat the sole and the garnish with the prepared sauce, and glaze quickly.

859—SOLE AU VIN BLANC

Partly separate the fillets from the bones on the upper side of the sole, and slip a piece of butter, as large as a walnut, under each fillet. Lay the sole in a dish, the bottom of which should be buttered and garnished with a small onion, chopped. Moisten with one-quarter pint of ordinary white wine, as much fish fumet, and a few tablespoonfuls of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms. Poach gently with lid on.

Drain and dish the sole, and coat it with a white wine sauce, prepared in accordance with one of the methods given in the chapter on Sauces (No. 111). Glaze quickly, or serve without glazing.

N.B.—“Sole au Vin Blanc” may be prepared after the above recipe, but ordinary white wine may be replaced by one of the Rhine wines or Moselle, by some Johannisberg, or by a good white Burgundy or Bordeaux wine, such as Chablis-Moutonne, Savigny, Montrachet, Barsac, Sauternes, and even Château-Yquem or Château-Latour.

In any of these cases the name of the wine may be mentioned, and on the menu may be written Sole au Barsac, Sole au Château-Yquem, &c.

860—SOLE DIEPPOISE

Poach the sole with one-sixth pint of fish fumet and a few tablespoonfuls of the cooking-liquor of mussels.

Drain and dish the sole, surround it with poached mussels (shelled and cleared of their beards) and shrimps’ tails, and coat the fish and the garnish with a white wine sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor.

861—SOLE DIPLOMATE

Poach the sole in very clear fish fumet.

Drain it, dish it, and coat it with Diplomate sauce.

Set upon it a row of six fine slices of black truffle; these should have been previously glazed with pale meat-glaze.

862—SOLE BONNE FEMME

Butter the bottom of the dish intended for the sole, and besprinkle it with two chopped shallots, one pinch of parsley, and one and one-half oz. of raw minced mushrooms. Lay the sole upon this garnish, moisten with one-quarter pint of white wine and as much fish fumet, and poach gently, taking care to baste from time to time.

When the sole is poached, drain off the cooking-liquor into a vegetable-pan, and reduce it quickly to half; effect the leason with two tablespoonfuls of fish velouté, and finish the sauce with two oz. of butter. Coat the sole with this sauce and set it to glaze in a fierce oven or at a salamander.

863—SOLE PARISIENNE

Poach the sole in white wine, the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and some butter. Drain it thoroughly, dish it, and coat it with white wine sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor of the sole. Garnish with a row of six slices of truffle and six fine roundels of cooked mushrooms kept very white, and finish with four medium-sized trussed crayfish.

864—SOLE NANTUA

Poach the sole in one-sixth pint of fish fumet and a few tablespoonfuls of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms.

Drain and dish the sole, surround it with twelve shelled crayfishes’ tails, and coat it with Nantua sauce.

Lay a row of very black truffle slices along the middle of the fish.

FILLETS OF SOLE

Subject to the kind of dish required, fillets of sole are either kept in their natural state, they are stuffed and folded over, or they are simply folded over without being stuffed, each of which methods of preparation will be specially referred to in the recipes.

Whatever be the method adopted, always skin the fillets thoroughly; i.e., remove the thin membrane which lies beneath the skin, the tendency of which, during the cooking process, is to shrink and thereby disfigure the fillet.

This done, flatten out the fillets with the broad side of a wet knife, and trim them slightly if necessary. The poaching of fillets of sole must be effected without allowing the cooking-liquor to boil, the object being to prevent the pieces losing their shape. Fillets should also be kept very white.

In cases where the exact amount of the poaching-liquor is not given, allow one-quarter pint to every four fillets, i.e., to every sole.

865—FILETS DE SOLES AMÉRICAINE

Arrange the folded fillets in a deep, buttered dish, and poach them in fish fumet.

Drain, and dish them in the form of an oval, letting them overlap one another with their tail-ends hidden. Garnish the centre of the dish with slices of lobster prepared à l’américaine (No. 939), and coat the whole with the lobster’s sauce.

866—FILETS DE SOLES ANGLAISE

Treat the fillets à l’anglaise with fresh and fine bread-crumbs. Pat the bread-crumbs over the egg with the flat of a knife, that the two may be well combined; and, with the back of a knife, criss-cross the coating of the fillets.

Cook them gently in clarified butter. Serve on a hot dish, and sprinkle the fillets with half-melted butter à la maître-d’hôtel.

867—FILETS DE SOLES ANDALOUSE

Coat the upper sides of the fillets with fish forcemeat combined, per pound, with three oz. of chopped capsicum. Roll them up, after the manner of a scroll (see No. 914), and smooth the forcemeat on the top. Poach the fillets in butter and fish fumet.

The following should have been prepared beforehand:—(1) As many small half-tomatoes, stewed in butter and garnished by means of rizotto with capsicums, as there are fillets of sole; (2) the same number of roundels of egg-plant, seasoned, dredged, and fried in oil.

When dishing, arrange the roundels of egg-plant round the dish; place a stuffed tomato on each roundel of egg-plant, and a poached fillet of sole upon each tomato. Sprinkle with lightly-browned butter, and serve at once.

868—FILETS DE SOLES CAPRICE

Dip the fillets in melted, seasoned butter, and then roll them in fresh and fine bread-crumbs. Pat the bread-crumbs with the flat of the knife, and with the back of the same instrument criss-cross the surface of the fillets. Sprinkle with melted butter, and set to grill gently, taking care that the coating of bread-crumbs acquires a nice, light-brown colour.

Lay on each grilled fillet the half of a peeled banana, cooked in butter, and send to the table, separately, a Roberts sauce Escoffier, finished with butter.

869—FILETS DE SOLES CATALANE

Poach, in the oven, as many emptied and seasoned half-tomatoes as there are fillets of sole. Cook some very finely-minced onion in oil, without letting it acquire any colour, and allow one tablespoonful of the onion to each half-tomato.

Fold the fillets of sole, and poach them in fish fumet just a few minutes before dishing them. Garnish the half-tomatoes with onion; arrange them in a circle on a dish, and place a fillet of sole upon each. Quickly reduce the cooking-liquor of the fillets, and finish it with butter in the proportion of one oz. per one-eighth pint of reduced fumet.

Coat the fillets and set to glaze quickly.

870—FILETS DE SOLES CLARENCE

Fold the fillets, and poach them in fish fumet.

They may be dished after the two following methods:—

1. Put a preparation of Duchesse potatoes in a piping-bag fitted with a large, grooved pipe, and describe therewith an ornamental design containing as many divisions as there are fillets of sole. Lightly gild and brown in the oven. This design, consisting of scroll-work, should be prepared before poaching the fillets. Lay a fillet in each division of the design, and coat with American sauce, prepared with curry and combined with the meat of the lobster (cut into small dice) which has served in the preparation of the sauce. Take care that no sauce touches the scroll-work, which should remain well-defined.

2. Bake some large potatoes in the oven. Open them; remove their pulp, and put into each baked shell a tablespoonful of American sauce au currie referred to above. Add a poached fillet of sole; coat with American sauce; dish these garnished potatoes on a napkin, and serve very hot.

871—FILETS DE SOLES AUX CHAMPIGNONS

Stew two oz. of small mushrooms in butter. Fold the fillets, and poach them in one-sixth pint of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut. Arrange the fillets in an oval, and garnish the centre of the dish with the stewed mushrooms.

Reduce the cooking-liquor of the fillets to one-third; add thereto two tablespoonfuls of velouté; finish the sauce with one oz. of butter, and coat the fillets and the garnish.

872—FILETS DE SOLES AUX CREVETTES

Fold the fillets, and poach them in fish fumet.

Dish them in an oval; garnish the middle with one oz. of shelled shrimps’ tails, kept very hot, and coat the fillets and the garnish with shrimp sauce.

873—FILETS DE SOLES CHAUCHAT

Poach the fillets of sole, folded, in butter and lemon juice.

Coat the bottom of a dish with Mornay sauce, and set the fillets of sole thereon in the form of an oval. Surround the fish with roundels of cooked potatoes turned to the shape of corks.

Cover the fillets and the garnish with Mornay sauce, and glaze quickly in a fierce oven or at the salamander.

874—FILETS DE SOLES BERCY

Butter the bottom of the dish intended for the soles, and sprinkle it with two finely-chopped shallots. Lay the fillets lengthwise upon the dish, side by side; moisten with three tablespoonfuls of white wine and as much fish fumet, and add one-half oz. of butter cut into small pieces.

Cook in the oven, basting frequently the while, and glaze at the last minute. Besprinkle with a few drops of lemon juice, and when about to serve drop a pinch of chopped parsley upon each fillet.

Or, poach the fillets with chopped shallots, and increase the moistening. As soon as the fillets are ready, drain off their cooking-liquor into a vegetable-pan; reduce it speedily to one-third, and add a few drops of meat-glaze, a little lemon juice, one-half oz. of butter, and one pinch of chopped parsley.

Coat the fillets, and set to glaze quickly.

N.B.—Sole à la Bercy may be prepared after either of the two methods.

875—FILETS DE SOLES DEJAZET

Treat the fillets of sole à l’anglaise and grill them as explained under No. 830.

Dish them, cover them thinly with half-melted tarragon butter, and deck each fillet with five or six parboiled, tarragon leaves.

876—FILETS DE SOLES GRAND DUC

Fold the fillets of soles over, and poach them in fish fumet and the cooking-liquor of mushrooms. Arrange them in an oval on a dish, with their tails pointing inwards; place a fine slice of truffle in the middle of each fillet, and between each of the latter three shelled crayfishes’ tails.

Coat with Mornay sauce, and set to glaze quickly.

When taking the dish from the oven, set in its centre a fine heap of very green asparagus-heads, cohered with butter at the moment of dishing.

877—FILETS DE SOLES JOINVILLE

Select some fine fillets of soles; fold them, and poach them in the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and butter, taking care to keep them very white. Arrange them in an oval, with their tails pointing upwards and the carapace of a crayfish fixed on each fillet; and garnish the middle of the dish with a salpicon or a short julienne, consisting of one and one-half oz. of cooked mushrooms, one-half oz. of truffle, and one and one-half oz. of shrimps’ tails cohered by means of a few tablespoonfuls of Joinville sauce. Coat the fillets and the garnish with the same sauce, and deck each fillet with a fine slice of truffle coated with meat-glaze.

They may also be served after the old-fashioned way, as follows:—

Set the garnish in the middle of the dish, shaping it like a dome; coat it with Joinville sauce, and surround it with the fillets of sole, which should slightly overlap one another and have their tails uppermost. Fix a carapace of crayfish on the tail of each fillet, and deck each with a slice of very black truffle.

With this method of dishing, the garnish alone is coated with sauce, the fillets thus forming a white, encircling border.

878—FILETS DE SOLES JUDIC

Fold, and poach the fillets in butter and lemon juice.

Arrange them in an oval round a dish, laying each upon a nice little braised and trimmed half lettuce, and place upon each fillet a quenelle of sole mousseline-forcemeat in the shape of a flattened oval, poached at the time of dishing up.

Coat with Mornay sauce and glaze quickly. When taking the dish out of the oven, encircle the fillets of sole with a thread of buttered meat-glaze.

879—FILETS DE SOLES A LA HONGROISE

Fry in butter, without colouration, one small tablespoonful of chopped onion seasoned with a very little paprika; moisten with three tablespoonfuls of white wine and one-sixth pint of fish fumet; add two small peeled, pressed, and roughly-chopped tomatoes, and set to cook for seven or eight minutes.

Fold the fillets of sole; lay them on a buttered dish; pour the above preparation thereon, and poach them. Arrange them in a circle on a dish; reduce their cooking-liquor to a stiff consistence; add a few tablespoonfuls of cream and a few drops of lemon juice, and coat the fillets with this sauce.

880—FILETS DE SOLES LADY EGMONT

Fold the fillets, and poach them in a few tablespoonfuls of excellent fish fumet.

Also for every four fillets (i.e., per sole) finely mince one oz. of well-cleaned mushrooms, and cook them quickly in butter, lemon juice, a little salt, and pepper. This done, add the cooking-liquor to the fish fumet, and keep the cooked minced mushrooms hot.

Reduce the combined cooking-liquor and fish fumet to half; add thereto one oz. of butter and two tablespoonfuls of cream; and to the resulting sauce add the reserved minced mushrooms and two tablespoonfuls of freshly-cooked and well-drained asparagus-heads, uncooled.

Serve the fillets of sole on an earthenware dish, coat them with the above garnish, and set to glaze quickly in a fierce oven or at the salamander.

881—FILETS DE SOLES MARINETTE

Poach a sole in fish fumet and the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and drain it on a napkin. When it is still lukewarm, carefully raise its fillets and trim them.

Break an egg into a bowl; beat it well, and add enough grated Gruyère and Parmesan to it (mixed in equal quantities) to produce a dense paste. Mix a dessertspoonful of cold Béchamel sauce with this paste; add salt and cayenne pepper; spread an even thickness of one inch of it over two of the fillets of sole; lay thereon the two remaining fillets, and put aside in the cool.

When the egg and cheese paste is very stiff, dip the fillets in a Villeroy sauce, and leave the latter to cool. Then treat the stuffed and sauced fillets à l’anglaise, and fry them, just before serving, in very hot fat.

Dish on a napkin with very green parsley all round.

882—FILETS DE SOLES MARIE STUART

Fold the fillets, and poach them in fish fumet. Arrange them in an oval on a dish; coat them with the sauce given under “Filets de soles à la New-burg” (No. 890), and place on each fillet a quenelle of fish forcemeat in the shape of a quoit and decked with a slice of truffle. These quenelles should, if possible, be poached just before dishing up, and well drained before being laid on the fillets of sole.

883—FILETS DE SOLES MIGNONETTE

Cook the fillets in butter, and set them in a hot timbale.

Surround them with potato-balls the size of peas, raised by means of the round spoon-cutter, and cooked beforehand in butter.

Lay upon the fillets eight or ten slices of fresh truffle heated in one-sixth pint of very light meat-glaze.

Finish the glaze in which the slices of truffle have been heated with two-thirds oz. of butter and a few drops of lemon juice, and pour it over the fillets and their garnish. Serve very hot.

884—FILETS DE SOLES MIMI

Divide a live lobster into two, lengthwise, and prepare it à l’américaine, taking care to keep the sauce short.

When the lobster is cooked, take the meat from the tail; cut it into as many slices as there are fillets of sole, and keep them hot.

Remove all the meat from the claws, and that remaining in the carcass; pound all of it smoothly, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, and rub through a fine sieve. Prepare a garnish of spaghetti with cream, and add thereto the purée of lobster.

Fold the fillets of sole, and poach them in Chablis wine and butter. All this being done, lay the two emptied halves of the lobster on a napkin lying on a dish, setting them back to back. Fill these lobster shells to the brim with the prepared garnish of spaghetti. Upon this garnish lay the poached fillets of sole, sandwiching a slice of lobster between every two; besprinkle the whole with a short and fine julienne of very black truffle.

Send the lobster sauce, finished with a few tablespoonfuls of cream, to the table separately. Proceed as quickly as possible with the dishing up, in order that the dish may reach the table very hot.

885—FILETS DE SOLES MEXICAINE

Coat the fillets with fish forcemeat, and roll them to resemble scrolls (see No. 914). Poach them in fish fumet as directed for the paupiettes. Lay each rolled fillet in a grilled mushroom garnished with one-half tablespoonful of peeled, pressed, and concassed tomato cooked in butter, and arrange them in an oval on a dish.

Coat them with Béchamel sauce combined with a purée of tomatoes and capsicums cut into small dice, in the proportion of two tablespoonfuls of the purée and two-thirds oz. of the capsicums per pint of the sauce.

886—FILETS DE SOLES MIRABEAU

Poach the fillets, left in their natural state, in fish fumet.

Dish them and coat with white wine and Genevoiseblanched tarragon leaves.

887—FILETS DE SOLES MIRAMAR

Divide each of the fillets into slices; season them and cook them in butter. Cut fifteen roundels (one-third inch thick) of egg-plant; season, dredge, and toss them in butter, taking care to keep them very crisp.

Take a timbale of suitable size, and line its sides with a layer (three-quarters inch thick) of pilaff rice.

Put the roundels of egg-plant and the sliced fillets of sole (mixed and tossed together for a moment) in the middle of the dish.

Just before serving, sprinkle with one oz. of lightly-browned butter.

888—FILETS DE SOLES AUX HUÎTRES

Open and poach twelve oysters. Poach the fillets of sole, folded, in the oyster liquor strained through linen, and a piece of butter as large as a walnut.

Arrange in an oval on a dish; garnish the centre with the poached oysters (cleared of their beards), and coat the fillets of sole and the oysters with Normande sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor of the fillets.

889—FILETS DE SOLES NELSON

Fold the fillets, and poach them in fish fumet.

Arrange them in a circle on a dish; coat them with white-wine sauce, and glaze quickly.

Garnish the centre of the dish with a pyramid of potato-balls cooked in butter and of a light-brown colour. Surround the fillets with poached milt.

890—FILETS DE SOLES NEW-BURG

Prepare a lobster à la New-burg, in accordance with one of the recipes given (No. 948 and 949). Cut the tail into as many slices as there are fillets of sole, and keep them hot.

Cut the remainder of the lobster meat into dice, and add these to the sauce. Fold the fillets of sole, and poach them in fish fumet. Arrange them in an oval on a dish; lay a slice of lobster upon each fillet, and coat with the lobster-sauce combined with the dice, prepared as directed above.

891—FILETS DE SOLES ORIENTALE

Prepare the fillets exactly as those à la New-burg, but season the sauce with curry.

Having dished and sauced the fillets, set a pyramid of rice à l’Indienne in the middle of the dish, or send the rice to the table separately, in a timbale; either way will be found to answer.

892—FILETS DE SOLES PERSANE

Prepare the fillets as in the case of those à la New-burg, but season the sauce with paprika

893—FILETS DE SOLES ORLY

Season the fillets; dip them into batter and, a few minutes before serving, put them into very hot fat. Drain them; dish them on a napkin with fried parsley, and serve a tomato sauce separately.

N.B.—There are several ways of preparing these fillets of sole. Thus they may be simply dipped in milk, dredged, and impaled on a hatelet. They may also be marinaded, treated à l’anglaise, and twisted into cork-screw shape.

Always, however, dish them on a napkin with fried parsley and, in every case, send a tomato sauce to the table separately.

This last accompaniment is essential.

894—FILETS DE SOLES OLGA, otherwise “OTERO”

Bake beforehand, in the oven, as many fine, well-washed potatoes as there are fillets of sole. As soon as they are done, remove a piece of the baked shell, and withdraw the pulp in such wise as to leave nothing but the long, parched shells. Fold the fillets, and poach them with a little excellent fish fumet. Garnish the bottom of each prepared shell with a tablespoonful of shelled shrimps’ tails, cohered with a white-wine sauce.

Put a poached fillet of sole upon this garnish; cover with sufficient Mornay sauce to completely fill the shell; sprinkle with grated cheese, and glaze quickly. Dish on a napkin the moment the fillets have been taken from the oven, and serve immediately.

895—FILETS DE SOLES POLIGNAC

Fold the fillets, and poach them in one-quarter pint of white wine, a few tablespoonfuls of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and a piece of butter about the size of a walnut.

Dish the fillets in an oval. Reduce the cooking-liquor to half; thicken it by means of two tablespoonfuls, bare, of fish velouté; finish the sauce with one oz. of butter, and add thereto three small, cooked, finely-minced mushrooms, and one tablespoonful of a julienne of truffles.

Coat the fillets with sauce, and set to glaze.

896—FILETS DE SOLES PAYSANNE

For the fillets of soles, cut two small carrots, two new onions, a stick of celery, and the white of one leek in paysanne fashion. Season these vegetables with a very little table-salt and a pinch of sugar; stew them in butter; moisten sufficiently to cover them with lukewarm water; and add a few pieces of broccoli, a tablespoonful of peas, and the same quantity of French beans cut into lozenges.

Complete the cooking of the vegetables while reducing the cooking-liquor. Season the fillets of sole, and lay them on a buttered earthenware dish. Pour thereon the garnish of vegetables; put the cover on the dish, and gently poach the fillets.

When they are cooked, tilt the dish so as to pour all the liquor away into a vegetable-pan; this done, reduce the liquor to one-fifth pint, and add to it three oz. of butter.

Pour this sauce into the dish containing the fillets and the vegetable garnish, and serve immediately.

897—FILETS DE SOLES EN PILAW A LA LEVANTINE

Cut the fillets into collops, and toss these in butter. Prepare some pilaff rice after the usual recipe (No. 2255), and add thereto one oz. of capsicum cut into dice.

Also toss in butter one and one-half oz. of egg-plant, cut into dice and seasoned, and put these with the fillets of sole. Mould the rice into a border round the dish; put the fillets and the egg-plant in the middle, and coat the two with curry sauce without letting the latter touch the rice.

N.B.—In the case of pilaff rice with fillets of sole, the rice should border the dish, and the fillets of sole, tossed in butter, should be laid in the middle and coated with brown butter.

898—FILETS DE SOLES POMPADOUR

Treat the fillets with butter and bread-crumbs, and grill them. Garnish them all round with a thread of very firm Béarnaise2208).

Lay a fine slice of truffle, moistened with melted meat-glaze, on each fillet.

899—FILETS DE SOLES RACHEL

Coat the fillets with some delicate fish forcemeat; put four slices of truffle on the forcemeat of each of the fillets; fold the latter, and poach them in one-sixth pint of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut, cut into small pieces.

Arrange the fillets in an oval on a dish, and coat them with white-wine sauce combined with one tablespoonful of freshly-cooked and uncooled asparagus-heads, and one tablespoonful of truffle in dice per every one-half pint of the sauce.

900—FILETS DE SOLES VÉNITIENNE

Fold the fillets, and poach them in fish fumet.

Arrange them in a circle on a dish, alternating them with thin crusts, in the shape of hearts, fried in butter. Coat with Venetian sauce combined with the reduced cooking-liquor of the fillets.

901—FILETS DE SOLES VERDI

Prepare a garnish of macaroni cut into dice; cohere this with cream and grated Gruyère and Parmesan, and add three oz. of lobster meat and one and one-half oz. of truffles in dice per every one-half lb. of the macaroni.

Poach the fillets of sole in fish fumet, keeping the fillets in their natural state. Lay the macaroni very evenly on the dish; set the poached fillets of sole upon it; coat with Mornay sauce, and set to glaze quickly.

902—FILETS DE SOLES VICTORIA

Fold the fillets, and poach them in fish fumet.

Arrange them in an oval on a dish, and garnish the centre with three oz. of the meat from the tail of the spiny lobster, and one oz. of truffle in dice per every four fillets.

Coat the fillets and the garnish with Victoria sauce, and set to glaze quickly.

903—FILETS DE SOLES VÉRONIQUE

Raise the fillets of a fine sole; beat them slightly; fold and season them, and put them in a special earthenware, buttered dish.

With the bones, some of the trimmings of the fish, a little minced onion, some parsley stalks, a few drops of lemon juice, and white wine and water, prepare two spoonfuls of fumet.

This done, strain it over the fillets, and poach them gently.

Drain them carefully; reduce the fumet to the consistence of a syrup, and finish it with one and one-half oz. of butter. Arrange the fillets in an oval on the dish whereon they have been poached; cover them with the buttered fumet, and set to glaze quickly. When about to serve, set a pyramid of skinned and very cold muscadel grapes in the middle of the dish.

Put a cover on the dish, and serve immediately.

904—FILETS DE SOLES WALEWSKA

Poach the fillets in fish fumet, keeping them in their natural state.

Dish, and surround them with three langoustines’ tails cut into two lengthwise, and stewed in butter (with lid on) with six fine slices of raw truffle.

Coat with a delicate Mornay sauce, and set to glaze quickly.

N.B.—The Mornay sauce may, according to circumstances, be combined with one and one-half oz. of langoustine butter per pint.

905—FILETS DE SOLES WILHELMINE

Prepare some potato shells as directed under “Filets de soles Olga” (No. 894). Garnish them with a tablespoonful of cucumber with cream; put a fillet of sole into each garnished shell, a fine Zeeland oyster on each fillet, and cover with Mornay sauce.

Set to glaze quickly, and dish on a napkin.

Various Preparations of Soles and Fillets of Sole.

906—MOUSSELINES DE SOLES

The directions given under “Mousselines de Saumon” (No. 797) apply in all circumstances to Mousselines of Sole. I shall therefore refrain from repeating the recipe, since, the quantities remaining the same, all that is needed is the substitution of the meat of sole for that of salmon. Thus, I shall only state here, by way of reminding the reader, that these excellent preparations admit of all the fish sauces and garnishes, and that they may also be accompanied by all purées of fresh vegetables.

907—TURBAN DE FILETS DE SOLES A LA VILLARET

Raise the fillets of three soles; flatten them slightly with a moistened beater, and trim them very straight on either side.

Liberally butter a medium-sized savarin-mould. Lay the fillets aslant in this mould, with their tail-ends over-reaching its inner edge and their other ends projecting over its outer edge; slip a fine slice of truffle between each, and let them slightly overlap one another.

When the mould is completely lined with the fillets of sole, fill it up with lobster mousseline forcemeat. Gently tap the mould on a folded napkin lying on the table, with the object of settling the forcemeat, and then draw the overhanging ends of the fillets across the latter.