FISH.

Carp and Tench.

Scale the fish, take out the gut and gall; save all the blood. Split the carp if large; cut it in large pieces, and salt it. Boil some sliced parsley roots and onions tender in half a pint of water, adding a little cayenne pepper, ginger, cloves, and allspice, a lemon sliced, a little vinegar, and moist sugar, one glass of red wine, and some butter rolled in flour. Then put in the fish, and let it boil very fast for half an hour in a stewpan. The blood is to be put in the sauce.

Carp, to stew.

Scale, gut, and cleanse them; save the roes and milts; stew them in some good broth: season, to your taste, with a bundle of herbs, onions, anchovies, and white wine; and, when they are stewed enough, thicken the sauce with the yolks of five eggs. Pass off the roes, dip them in yolk of egg and flour, and fry them with some sippets of French bread; then fry a little parsley, and, when you serve up, garnish the dish with the roes, parsley, and sippets.

Another way.

Have your carp fresh out of the water; scale and gut them, washing the blood out of each fish with a little claret; and save that after so doing. Cut your carp in pieces, and stew in a little fresh butter, a few blades of mace, winter savory, a little thyme, and three or four onions; after stewing awhile, take them out, put them by, and fold them up in linen, till the liquor is ready to receive them again, as the fish would otherwise be boiled to pieces before the liquor was reduced to a proper thickness. When you have taken out your fish, put in the claret that you washed out the blood with, and a pint of beef or mutton gravy, according to the quantity of your fish, with some salt and the butter in which you stewed the carp; and when this butter is almost boiled to a proper thickness put in your fish again; stew all together, and serve it up. Two spoonfuls of elder vinegar to the liquor when taken up will give a very agreeable taste.

Cod, to stew.

Cut a cod into thin pieces or slices; lay them in rows at the bottom of a dish; put in a pint of white wine, half a pound of butter, a few oysters, with their liquor, a little pepper and salt, with some crumbs of bread. Stew them all till they are done enough. Garnish the dish with lemon.

Cod, Ragout of.

Wash the cod clean, and boil it in warm water, with vinegar, pepper, salt, a bay-leaf, and lemon. Make a sauce of burnt butter, fried flour, capers, and oysters. When you serve it up put in some black pepper and lemon-juice.

Cod’s Head, to boil.

Take vinegar and salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and an onion; set them on the fire in a kettle of water; boil them and put in the head; and, while it is boiling, put in cold water and vinegar. When boiled, take it up, put it into a dish, and make sauce as follows:—Take gravy and claret, boiled with a bundle of sweet herbs and an onion, two or three anchovies, drawn with two pounds of butter, a pint of shrimps, oysters, the meat of a lobster shred fine. You may stick little toasts on the head, and lay on and about the roe, milt, and liver. Garnish the dish with fried parsley, lemon, barberries, horseradish, and fried fish.

Crab, to dress.

Take all the body and the meat of the legs, and put them together in a dish to heat, with a little broth or gravy, just to make them moist. When hot, have ready some good broth or gravy, with an anchovy dissolved in it, and the juice of a small lemon, heated; afterwards thicken it up with butter, and stir it in the crab, as it is, hot: then serve all up in the shell.

Crab or Lobster, to butter.

The crabs or lobsters being boiled and cold, take all the meat out of the shells and body; break the claws and take out the meat. Shred it small; add a spoonful or two of claret, a little vinegar, and a grated nutmeg. Let it boil up till it is thoroughly hot; then put in some melted butter, with anchovies and white gravy; thicken with the yolk of an egg or two, and when very hot put it into the large shell. Put crumbs of bread over it, and brown it with a salamander.

Crab, or Lobster, to stew. No. 1.

A little cayenne, vinegar, butter, flour, and salt. Cover it with water and let it stew gently.

Crab, or Lobster, to stew. No. 2.

When the lobsters are boiled, take out the tail and claws, and dip them in white wine; strew over them nutmeg, cloves, mace, salt, and pepper, mixed together. Then pour over them some melted butter with a little white wine in it; send them to the bakehouse, and let them stand in a slow oven about half an hour. Pour out the butter and wine, and pour on some fresh butter; when cold, cover them, and keep them in a cold place.

Crab, or Lobster, to stew. No. 3.

Boil the lobsters; when cold take out all the meat; season it well with pepper, salt, nutmeg and mace pounded. Put it into an earthen pot with as much clarified butter as will cover it; bake it well. While warm, take it out of the pot, and let the butter drain from it. Break it as fine as you can with a spoon or knife; add more seasoning if required; put it as close as possible in the pot, and cover with clarified butter. The hen lobsters are best for this purpose, as the eggs impart a good colour. It may be pounded in a marble mortar, but, if baked enough, will do as well without it.

Crawfish, to make red.

Rub the fish with aqua vitæ, which will produce the desired effect most completely.

Eels broiled whole.

Skin, wash, and dry your eels, and score them with the knife, seasoning them with pepper, salt, thyme, parsley, and crumbs of bread, turning them round and skewering them across; you may either roast or broil them as you like best: the sauce to be melted butter with lemon juice.

Eels, to collar.

Scour large silver eels with salt; slit them, and take out the back-bones; wash and dry them; season with shred parsley, sage, an onion, and thyme. Then roll each into collars, in a cloth; tie them close with the heads, bones, and a bundle of herbs, and boil them in salt and water. When tender, take them up, and again tie them close; drain the pickle, and put them into it.

Eels, to fry.

Cut every eel into eight pieces; mix them with a proper quantity of yolks of eggs, and well season with pepper, and salt, and bread rubbed fine, with parsley and thyme; then flour them, and fry them. You may cook them as plain as you like, with only salt and flour, and serve them up with melted butter and fried parsley.

Eels, to pot.

Into an earthen pan put Jamaica and common pepper, pounded fine, and salt; mix them and strew some at the bottom of the pan; cut your eels and lay them over it, and strew a little more seasoning over them. Then put in another layer of eels, repeating this process till all the eels are in. Lay a few bay leaves upon them, and pour as much vinegar as you may think requisite; cover the pan with brown paper and bake them. Pour off the liquor, cover them with clarified butter, and lay them by for use.

Eels, to pickle.

Drain, wash, and well cleanse your eels, and cut off the heads. Cut them in lengths of four or five inches, with their skins on; stew in them some pepper and salt, and broil them on a gridiron a fine colour: then put them in layers in a jar, with bay-leaf, pepper, salt, a few slices of lemon, and a few cloves. Pour some good vinegar on them; tie strong paper over, and prick a few holes in it. It is better to boil the seasoning with some sweet herbs in the vinegar, and let it stand to be cold before it is put over the eels. Two yolks of eggs boiled hard should be put in the vinegar with a tea-spoonful of flour of mustard. Two yolks are sufficient for twelve pounds of eels.

Eels, to roast.

Skin your eels; turn, scotch, and wash them with melted butter; skewer them crosswise; fix them on the spit, and put over them a little pepper, salt, parsley, and thyme; roast them quick. Fry some parsley, and lay it round the dish; make your sauce of butter and gravy.

Eels, to spitchcock.

Leave the skin on the eels; scour them with salt; wash them; cut off their heads and slit them on the belly side; take out the bone and guts. Wash and wipe them well; cut them in pieces three inches long, and wipe them quite dry. Put two ounces of butter, with a little minced parsley, thyme, sage, pepper and salt, and a little chopped shalot, in a stewpan; when the butter is melted, stir the ingredients together, and take the pan off the fire; mix the yolks of two eggs with them and dip the eels in, a piece at a time; then roll them in bread crumbs, making as much stick on as you can. Rub the gridiron with a bit of suet; set it over a clear fire, and broil your eels of a fine crisp brown; dust them with crisp parsley. Sauce, anchovy and butter, or plain butter in a boat.

Another way.

Wash your eels well in their skins with salt and water; dry and slit them; take out the back-bone, and slash them: season them with chopped parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Clean the inside with melted butter; cut them into pieces about three inches long and broil them; make the sauce with butter and orange juice.

Eels, to stew.

Take five pounds of middling shafflings, cut off their heads, skin, and cut them in pieces as long as your finger. Wash them in several waters; dry them well with a cloth, lay them in a pan, sprinkle over them half an ounce of white salt, and let them lie an hour. Lay them in a stewpan, and add half a pint of French white wine, a quarter of a pint of water, two cloves beaten, a blade of mace, a large onion peeled, and the rind of a lemon; stew all these gently half an hour: then take the eels out of the liquor, skim off all the fat, and flour the eels all over; put to the liquor in which they were stewed an anchovy, washed and boned, and mix sorrel and parsley, half a handful of each, and half a pound of fresh butter. Let it just boil up; put in the eels; when they boil, lay them on sippets in your dish, and send them up hot to table.

Another way.

Cover the fish close in a stewpan with a piece of butter as big as a walnut rolled in flour, and let it stew till done enough, which you will know by the eels being very tender. Take them up and lay them on a dish; strain your sauce, and give it a quick boil and pour it over the fish. Garnish with lemon.

Fish, to recover when tainted.

When fish of any kind is tainted plunge it in cold milk, which will render it sweet again.

Fish, in general, to dress.

Take water, salt, half a pint of vinegar, a sprig of thyme, a small onion, and a little lemon peel; boil them all together, then put in your fish, and when done enough take them out, drain them well, and lay them over a stove to keep hot.

If you fry fish, strew some crumbs of grated bread very fine over them, and fry them in sweet oil; then drain them well and keep them hot.

Fish, to dress in Sauce.

Cut off the heads, tails, and fins, of two or three haddocks or other small fish; stew them in a quart of water, with a little spice and anchovy, and a bunch of sweet herbs, for a quarter of an hour; and then skim. Roll a bit of butter in flour, and thicken the liquor; put down the fish, and stew them with a little chopped parsley, and cloves, or onions.

Fish hashed in Paste.

Cut the fish into dice about three quarters of an inch square; prepare white sauce the same as for fowls, leaving out the mushrooms and truffles; add a little anchovy sauce to give it a good colour, and a pinch of cayenne pepper and salt. When the sauce is done, throw in the dice of fish, and when thoroughly hot serve it.

There should be a little more butter in the sauce than is commonly used in the white sauce for fowls.

Fish, to Cavietch.

Cut the fish into slices, season them with pepper and salt, and let them lie for an hour; dry them well with a cloth, flour and fry them brown in oil: boil a quantity of vinegar proportionate to that of the fish to be prepared: cover the fish with slices of garlic and some whole pepper and mace; add the same quantity of oil as vinegar, mix them well together, and salt to your taste. When the fish and liquor are quite cold, slice onions and lay at the bottom of the pan; then put a layer of fish, and so on, till the whole is in. The liquor must be cold before it is poured on the fish.

Gudgeon.

Dress as you would smelts.

Haddocks, to bake.

Bone two or three haddocks, and lay them in a deep pan with pepper, salt, butter and flour, and two or three anchovies, and sufficient water to cover them. Cover the pan close for an hour, which is required to bake them, and serve them in the saucepan.

Haddock baked.

Let the inside of the gills be drawn out and washed clean; fill with bread crumbs, parsley, sweet herbs chopped, nutmeg, salt, pepper, a bit of butter, and grated lemon-peel; skewer the tail into the mouth, and rub it well with yolk of egg. Strew over bread crumbs, and stick on bits of butter. Bake the fish in a common oven, putting into the dish a little white wine and water, a bit of mace, and lemon-peel. Serve up with oyster sauce, white fish sauce, or anchovy sauce; but put to the sauce what gravy is in the dish, first skimming it.

Haddock Pudding.

Skin the fish; take out all the bones, and cut it in thin slices. Butter the mould well, and throw round it the spawn of a lobster, before it is boiled. Put alternate slices of haddock and lobster in the mould, and season to your taste. Beat up half a pint of cream or more, according to the size of the mould, with three eggs, and pour on it: tie a cloth over, and boil it an hour. Stew oysters to go in the dish. Garnish with pastry.

Herring.

The following is a Swedish dish: Take salted herring, some cold veal, an apple, and an onion, mince them all fine, and mix them well together with oil and vinegar.

Lampreys, to pot.

Well cleanse your lampreys in the following manner: the intestines and the pipe which nature has given them instead of a bone must be taken clear away, by opening them down the belly from head to tail. They must then be rubbed with wood-ashes, to remove the slime. Then rub with salt, and wash them in three or four waters. Let them be quite free from water before you proceed to season them thus:—take, according to the quantity you intend to pot, allspice ground with an equal quantity of black pepper, a little mace, cayenne pepper, salt, about the same quantity as that of all the other seasoning; mix these well together, and rub your lampreys inside and out. Put them into an earthen pan or a well-tinned copper stewpan, with some good butter under and over, sufficient to cover them, when dissolved. Put in with them a few bay-leaves and the peel of a lemon. Let them bake slowly till they are quite done; then strain off the butter, and let them lie on the back of a sieve till nearly cold. Then place them in pots of suitable size, taking great care to rub the seasoning well over them as you lay them in; because the seasoning is apt to get from the fish when you drain them. Carefully separate the butter which you have strained from the gravy; clarify it, and, when almost cold, pour it into your pots so as to cover your fish completely. If you have not sufficient butter for this purpose you must clarify more, as the fish must be entirely hid from sight. They are fit for use the next day.

Great care must be taken to put them into the pots quite free from the gravy or moisture which they produce.

Another way.

Skin your fish, cleanse them with salt, and wipe them dry. Beat some black pepper, mace, and cloves; mix them with salt, and season your fish with it. Put them in a pan; cover with clarified butter; bake them an hour and season them well; remove the butter after they are baked; take them out of their gravy, and lay them on a coarse cloth to drain. When quite cold, season them again with the same seasoning. Lay them close in the pot; cover them completely with clarified butter; and if your butter is good, they will keep a long time.

Lobsters, to butter.

Put by the tails whole, to be laid in the middle of the dish; cut the meat into large pieces; put in a large piece of butter, and two spoonfuls of Rhenish wine; squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and serve it up.

Lobster Fricassee.

Cut the meat of a lobster into dice; put it in a stewpan with a little veal gravy; let it stew for ten minutes. A little before you send it to table beat up the yolk of an egg in cream: put it to your lobster, stirring it till it simmers. Pepper and salt to your taste. Dish it up very hot, and garnish with lemon.

Lobsters, to hash.

Take the meat out of a boiled lobster as whole as you can. Break all the shells; to these and the remains of the body, the large claws excepted, as they have no goodness in them, put some water, cayenne pepper, salt, and common pepper. Let them stew together till the liquor has a good flavour of the lobster, but observe that there must be very little water, and add two teaspoonfuls of anchovy pickle. Strain through a common sieve; put the meat of the lobster to the gravy; add some good rich melted butter, and send to table. Lobster sauce is made in the same way, only the meat should be cut smaller than for hashing. Hen lobsters are best.

Lobsters, to pot.

Boil four moderate-sized lobsters, take off the tails, and split them. Take out the flesh as whole as possible; pick the meat out of the body and chine; beat it fine, and season with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and mace, and season separately, in the same manner, the tails and claws, which must also be taken out as whole as you can. Clarify a pound of the very finest butter; skim it clean; put in the tails and claws, with what you have beaten, and let it boil a very short time, stirring it all the while lest it should turn. Let it drain through a sieve, but not too much; put it down close in a pot, and, when it is a little cooled, pour over the butter which you drained from it. When quite cold, tie it down. The butter should be the very best, as it mixes with the lobster spawn, &c., and is excellent to eat with the rest or spread upon bread.

Lobsters, to stew.

Half boil two fine lobsters; break the claws and take out the meat as whole as you can; cut the tails in two, and take out the meat; put them in a stewpan, with half a pint of gravy, a gill of white wine, a little beaten mace, cayenne pepper, salt, a spoonful of ketchup, a little anchovy liquor, and a little butter rolled in flour. Cover and stew them gently for twenty minutes. Shake the pan round frequently to prevent the contents from sticking; squeeze in a little lemon. Cut the chines in four; pepper, salt, and broil them. Put the meat and sauce in a dish, and the chines round for garnish.

Lobster Curry Powder.

Eleven ounces of coriander seed, six drachms of cayenne pepper, one ounce of cummin, one ounce and a half of black pepper, one ounce and a half of turmeric, three drachms of cloves, two drachms of cardamoms.

Lobster Patés.

Rub two ounces of butter well into half a pound of flour; add one yolk of an egg and a little water, and make it into a stiff paste. Sheet your paté moulds very thin, fill them with crumbs of bread, and bake lightly. Turn out the crumbs and save them. Cut your lobster small; add to it a little white sauce, and season with pepper and salt. Take care that it is not too thin. Fill your moulds; cover with the crumbs which you saved, and a quarter of an hour before dinner put them into the oven to give them a light colour.

Oyster patés are done the same way.

Lobster Salad.

Boil a cauliflower, pull it in pieces, and put it in a dish with a little pepper, salt, and vinegar. Have four or five hard-boiled eggs, boiled beet-root, small salad, and some anchovies, nicely cleaned and cut in lengths. Put a layer of small salad at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of the cauliflower, then the eggs cut in slices, then the beet, and so on. Take the claws and tail of the lobster, cut as whole as possible, and trim, to be laid on the top. The trimmings and what you can get out may be put in at the time you are laying the cauliflower, &c. in the dish. Make a rich salad sauce with a little elder vinegar in it, and pour it over. Lay the tails and claws on the top, and cross the shreds of the anchovies over them.

Mackarel à la maitre d’hotel.

Boil the fish, and then put it in a stewpan, with a piece of butter and sweet herbs. Set it on the fire till the butter becomes oil.

Mackarel, to boil.

Boil them in salt and water with a little vinegar. Fennel sauce is good to eat with them, and also coddled gooseberries.

Mackarel, to broil.

You may split them or broil them whole; pepper and salt them well. For sauce, scald some mint and fennel, chop them small; then melt some butter and put your herbs in. You may scald some gooseberries and lay over your mackarel.

Mackarel, to collar.

Collar them as eels, only omit the sage, and add sweet herbs, a little lemon-peel, and seasoning to your taste.

Mackarel, to fry.

For frying you may stuff the fish with crumbs of bread, parsley well chopped, lemon-peel grated, pepper and salt, mixed with yolk of egg. Serve up with anchovy or fennel sauce.

Mackarel, to pickle.

Cut the mackarel into four or five pieces; season them very high; make slits with a penknife, put in the seasoning, and fry them in oil to a good brown colour. Drain them very dry; put them into vinegar, if they are to be kept for any time; pour oil on the top.

Mackarel, to pot.

Proceed in the same manner as with eels.

Mackarel, to souse.

Wash and clean your fish: take out the roes, and boil them in salt and water; when enough, take them out and lay them in the dish; pour away half the liquor they were boiled in, and add to the rest of the liquor as much vinegar as will cover them and two or three bay leaves. Let them lie three days before they are eaten.

Mackarel Pie.

Cut the fish into four pieces; season them to your taste with pepper, salt, and a little mace, mixed with a quarter of a pound of beef suet, chopped fine. Put at the bottom and top, and between the layers of fish, a good deal of young parsley, and instead of water a little new milk in the dish for gravy. If you like it rich, warm about a quarter of a pint of cream, which pour in the pie when baked; if not, have boiled a little gravy with the heads. It will take the same time to bake as a veal pie.

Mullet, to boil.

Let them be boiled in salt and water, and, when you think them done enough, pour part of the water from them, and put a pint of red wine, two onions sliced, some nutmeg, salt, and vinegar, beaten mace, a bunch of sweet herbs, and the juice of a lemon. Boil all these well together, with two or three anchovies; put in your fish; and, when they have simmered some time, put them into a dish and strain the sauce over. If you like, shrimps or oysters may be added.

Mullet, to broil.

Let the mullet be scaled and gutted, and cut gashes in their sides; dip them in melted butter, and broil them at a great distance from the fire. Sauce—anchovy, with capers, and a lemon squeezed into it.

Mullet, to fry.

Carefully scale and gut the fish, score them across the back, and then dip them into melted butter. Melt some butter in a stewpan; let it clarify. Fry your mullet in it; when done, lay them on a warm dish. Sauce—anchovy and butter.

Oysters, to stew.

Take a quart of large oysters; strain the liquor from them through a sieve; wash them well, and take off the beards. Put them in a stewpan, and drain the liquor from the settlings. Add to the oysters a quarter of a pound of butter mixed with flour and a gill of white wine, and grate in a little nutmeg with a gill of cream. Keep them stirred till they are quite thick and smooth. Lay sippets at the bottom of the dish; pour in your oysters, and lay fried sippets all round.

Another way.

Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a clean stewpan, and let it boil. Strain a pint of oysters from their liquor; put them into the butter; and let them stew with some parsley minced small, a little shalot shred small, and the yolks of three eggs well beaten up with the liquor strained from the oysters. Put all these together into the stewpan with half a pound more butter; shake it and stew them a little; if too much, you make the oysters hard.

Oysters, ragout of.

Twenty-five oysters, half a table-spoonful of soy, double the quantity of vinegar, a piece of butter, and a little pepper, salt, and flour.

Oysters, to pickle.

Blanch the oysters, and strain off the liquor; wash the oysters in three or four waters; put them into a stewpan, with their liquor and half a pint of white wine vinegar, two onions sliced thin, a little parsley and thyme, a blade of mace, six cloves, Jamaica pepper, a dozen corns of white pepper, and salt according to your taste. Boil up two or three minutes; let them stand till cold; then put them into a dish, and pour the liquor over them.

Oyster Patés. No. 1.

Stew the oysters in their own liquor, but do not let them be too much done; beard them; take a table-spoonful of pickled mushrooms, wash them in two or three cold waters to get out the vinegar; then cut each mushroom into four, and fry them in a little butter dusted over with flour. Take three table-spoonfuls of veal jelly, and two spoonfuls of cream; let it boil, stirring all the while; add a small bit of butter. Season with a pinch of salt, and one of cayenne pepper. Throw the oysters, which you have kept warm in a cloth near the fire, into the sauce; see that it is all hot; then have the patés ready, fill them with the oysters and sauce, and put a top on each. When the paste of oyster patés is done, remove the tops gently and cleanly with a knife; take out the flaky part of the paste inside and from the inside of the top; cut six little pieces of bread square so as to fill the inside; lay on the top of the paste. Then place them on a sheet of paper in a dish, and put them before the fire, covering them with a cloth to keep them hot. When you are going to serve them take out the piece of bread, and fill the patés with the oysters and sauce.

Oyster Patés. No. 2.

Spread some puff-paste about half an inch thick. Cut out six pieces with a small tea-cup. Rub a baking sheet over with a brush dipped in water, and put the patés on it at a little distance from each other. Glaze them thoroughly with the yolk and white of egg mixed up; open a hole at the top of each with a small knife; cut six tops of the size of a crown-piece, and place them lightly on the patés. Let them be baked, and when done remove the tops, and place the crust on paper till ready to serve up; then fill them with oysters (as described in the preceding recipe) put the tops over them, and dish them upon a folded napkin.

Oyster Patés. No. 3.

Parboil your oysters, and strain them from their liquor, wash the beard, and cut them in flour. Put them in a stewpan, with an ounce of butter rolled in flour, half a gill of cream, and a little grated lemon-peel, if liked. Free the oyster liquor from sediment, reduce it by boiling to one half; add cayenne pepper and salt. Stir it over the fire, and fill your patés.

Oyster Loaves.

Cut out the crumb of three French rolls; lay them before the fire till they are hot through, turning them often. Melt half a pound of butter; put some into the loaves; put on their tops, and boil them till they are buttered quite through. Then take a pint of oysters, stewed with half a pint of water, one anchovy, a little pepper and salt, a quarter of a pound of butter, and as much sauce as will make your sauce thick. Give it a boil. Put as many oysters into your loaves as will go in; pour the rest of the sauce all over the loaves in the dish in which they are served up.

Oyster Pie.

Beard the oysters; scald and strain them from their liquor, and season the liquor with pepper, salt, and anchovy, a lump of butter, and bread crumbs. Boil up to melt the anchovies; then just heat your oysters in it; put them all together into your pie-dish, and cover them with a puff-paste.

If you put your oysters into a fresh pie, you must cover them at the top with crisped crumbs of bread; add more to the savouring if you like it.

Perch, to fricassee.

Boil the perch, and strip them of the bones; half cover them with white wine; put in two or three anchovies, a little pepper and salt, and warm it over the fire. Put in a little parsley and onions, with yolks of eggs well beaten. Toss it together; put in a little thick butter; and serve it up.

Pike, to dress.

If you would serve it as a first dish, do not scale it; take off the gills, and, having gutted it, boil it in court bouillon, as a side-dish, or entrée. It may be served in many ways. Cut it into pieces, and put it into a stewpan, with a bit of butter, a bunch of all sorts of sweet herbs, and some mushrooms; turn it a few times over the fire, and shake in a little flour; moisten it with some good broth and a pint of white wine, and set it over a brisk fire. When it is done, add a trifle of salt and cayenne pepper, the yolk of three eggs, and half a pint of cream, stirring it till well mixed. Serve up hot.

Pike stuffed, to boil.

Clean a large pike; take out the gills; prepare a stuffing with finely grated bread, all sorts of sweet-herbs, particularly thyme, some onions, grated lemon-peel, oysters chopped small, a piece of butter, the boiled yolk of two eggs, and a sufficient quantity of suet to hold the ingredients together. Put them into the fish, and sew it up. Turn the tail into the mouth, and boil it in pump water, with two spoonfuls of vinegar and a handful of salt. It will take forty minutes to boil, if a large fish.

Pike, to boil, à-la-Française.

Wash well, clean, and scale a large pike, and cut it into three pieces; boil an equal quantity of white wine and water with lemon-peel, and when the liquor boils put your pike in, with a handful of salt. When done, lay it on sippets, and stick it with bits of fried bread. Sauce—melted butter, with slices of lemon in it, the yolks of three eggs, and some grated nutmeg. Pour your sauce over the pike, and serve it up.

Pike, to broil.

Split it, and scotch it with a knife on the outside; season it with salt; put the gridiron on a clear fire, make it very hot, then lay on the pike; baste it with butter, turn it often, and, when broiled crisp and stiff put it into a dish, and serve it up with butter and the juice of lemons, or white wine vinegar. Garnish with slices of oranges or lemons.

Pike in Court Bouillon.

Scale and well wash your pike; lay it in a pan; pour vinegar and salt over it; let it lie for an hour, then take it out, season with pepper, a little salt, sweet herbs, cloves, and a bay leaf, with a piece of butter. Wrap it up in a napkin, and put it into a stewpan, with some white wine, a lemon sliced, a little verjuice, nutmeg, cloves, and a bay leaf. Let this liquor boil very fast; put in the pike, and when done lay it on a warm dish, and strain the liquor into a saucepan; add to it an anchovy washed and boned, a few capers, a little water, and a piece of butter rolled in flour: let these simmer till of proper thickness, and pour them over the fish.

Pike Fricandeau.

Cut a pike in several pieces, according to its size, after having scaled, gutted, and washed, it. Lard all the upper part with bacon cut small, and put it into a stewpan with a glass of red wine (or white wine if for white sauce) some good broth, a bunch of sweet-herbs, and some lean veal cut into dice. When it is stewed and the sauce strained off, complete it in the manner of any other fricandeau; putting a good sauce under it, either brown or white, as you chuse.

Pike, German way of dressing—delicious!

Take a pike of moderate size; when well washed and cleansed, split it down the back, close to the bone, in two flat pieces. Set it over the fire in a stewpan with salt and water; half boil it. Take it out; scale it; put it into the stewpan again, with a very little water, and some mushrooms, truffles, and morels, an equal quantity, cut small; add a bunch of sweet herbs. Let it stew very gently, closely covered, over a very slow fire, or the fish will break; when it is almost done, take out the herbs, put in a cupful of capers, chopped small, three anchovies split and shred fine, a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a table-spoonful of grated Parmesan cheese. Pour in a pint of white wine, and cover the stewpan quite close. When the ingredients are mixed, and the fish quite done, lay it in a warm dish, and pour the sauce over it.

Pike, to pot.

After scaling the fish, cut off the head, split it, take out the back-bone, and strew it over with bay salt and pepper. Cover and bake it; lay it on a coarse cloth to drain, and when cold put it in a pot that will just hold it, and cover with clarified butter.

If not well drained from the gravy it will not keep.

Pike, to roast.

Scale and slash the fish from head to tail; lard it with the flesh of eels rolled up in sweet-herbs and seasoning; fill it with fish and forced meat. Roast it at length; baste and bread it; make the sauce of drawn butter, anchovies, the roe and liver, with mushrooms, capers, and oysters. Ornament with sliced lemon.

Pike au Souvenir.

Wash a large pike; gut and dry it; make a forcemeat with eel, anchovy, whiting, pepper, salt, suet, thyme, bread crumbs, parsley, and a bit of shalot, mixed with the yolks of eggs; fill the inside of the fish with this meat; sew it up; after which draw with your packing-needle a piece of packthread through the eyes of the pike, through the middle and the tail also in the form of S; wash it over with the yolk of an egg, and strew it with the crumbs of bread. Roast or bake it with a caul over it. Sauce—melted butter and capers.

Pike à la Tatare, or in the Tartar fashion.

Clean your pike; gut and scale it; cut it into bits, and lay it in oil, with salt, cayenne pepper, parsley, scallions, mushrooms, two shalots, the whole shred very fine; grate bread over it and lay it upon the gridiron, basting it, while broiling, with the rest of the oil. When it is done of a good colour, serve it in a dry dish, with sauce à la remoulade [see Sauces] in a sauce-boat.

Fresh Salmon, to dress.

Cut it in slices, steep it in a little sweet butter, salt and pepper, and broil it, basting it with butter while doing. When done, serve over it any of the fish sauces, as described (see the Sauces), or you may serve it with court bouillon, which will do for all kinds of fish whatever.

Salmon, to dress en caisses, that is, in small paper cases.

Take two slices of fresh salmon, about the thickness of half a finger; steep it an hour in sweet butter with mushrooms, a clove of garlic, and a shalot, all shred fine, half a laurel-leaf, thyme, and basil, reduced to a fine powder, salt, and whole pepper. Then make a neat paper box to contain your salmon; rub the outside of it with butter, and put the salmon with all its seasoning and covered with grated bread into it; do it in an oven, or put the dish upon a stove, and, when the salmon is done, brown it with a salamander. When you serve it, squeeze in the juice of a large lemon. If you serve it with Spanish sauce, the fat must be taken off the salmon before you put in the sauce.

Salmon à la Poële, or done on the Stove.

Put three or four slices of fillet of veal, and two or three of ham, having carefully cut off the fat of both, at the bottom of a stewpan, just the size of the salmon you would serve. Lay the salmon upon it, and cover it with thin slices of bacon, adding a bunch of parsley, scallions, two cloves of garlic, and three shalots. Boil it gently over a moderate stove fire, a quarter of an hour; moisten it with a glass of champagne, or fine white wine; let it continue to stew slowly till thoroughly done; and the moment before you serve it strain off the sauce, laying the salmon in a hot dish. Add to the sauce five or six spoonfuls of cullis; let it boil up two or three times, and then pour it over the salmon, and serve up.

Scallops.

Pick the scallops, and wash them extremely clean; make them very dry. Flour them a very little. Fry them of a fine light brown. Make a nice, strong, light sauce of veal and a little ham; thicken a very little, and gently stew the scallops in it for half an hour.

Shrimps, to pot.

Pick the finest shrimps you can procure; season them with a little mace beaten fine, and pepper and salt to your taste. Add a little cold butter. Pound all together in a mortar till it becomes a paste. Put it into small pots, and pour over it clarified butter.

Another way.

To a quart of pickled shrimps put two ounces of fresh butter, and stew them over a moderate fire, stirring them about. Add to them while on the fire twelve white peppercorns and two blades of mace, beaten very fine, and a very little salt.—Let them stew a quarter of an hour: when done, put them down close in pots, and pour clarified butter over them when cold.

Smelts, to fry.

Dry and rub them with yolk of egg; flour or strew some fine bread crumbs on them; when fried, lay them in the dish with their tails in the middle of it. Anchovy sauce.

Smelts, to pickle.

Take a quarter of a peck of smelts, and put them into a jar, and beat very fine half an ounce of nutmegs, and the same quantity of saltpetre and of pepper, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and a quarter of a pound of common salt. Wash the fish; clean gut them, after which lay them in rows in a jar or pan; over every layer of smelts strew your seasoning, with some bay-leaves, and pour on boiled red wine sufficient to cover them. Put a plate or a cover over, and when cold tie them down close.

Smelts, to pot.

Clean the inside of the fish, and season them with salt, pounded mace, and pepper. Bake them, and when nearly cold lay them upon a cloth; then put them into pots, taking off the butter from the gravy; clarify it with more butter, and pour it on them.

Soles, to boil.

The soles should be boiled in salt and water. Anchovy sauce.

Soles, to boil, à-la-Française.

Put a quart of water and half a pint of vinegar into an earthen dish; skin and clean a pair of soles; put them into vinegar and water, let them remain there for two hours. Dry them with a cloth, and put them into a stewpan, with a pint of wine, a quarter of a pint of water, a little sweet marjoram, a very little thyme, an onion stuck with four cloves, and winter savory. Sprinkle a very little bay salt, covering them close. Let them simmer gently till they are done; then take them out, and lay them in a warm dish before the fire. Put into the liquor, after it is strained, a piece of butter rolled in flour; let it boil till of a proper thickness; lay your soles in the dish, and pour the sauce over them.

A small turbot or any flat fish may be done the same way.

Soles, to stew.

Cut and skin the soles, and half fry them; have ready the quantity you like of half white wine and half water, mixed with some gravy, one whole onion, and a little whole pepper. Stew them all together, with a little shred lemon, and a few mushrooms. When they are done enough, thicken the sauce with good butter, and serve it up.

Water Souchi.

Put on a kettle of water with a good deal of salt in it, and a good many parsley roots; keep it skimmed very clean, and when it boils up throw in your perch or whatever fish you use for the purpose. When sufficiently boiled, take them up and serve them hot. Have ready a pint or more of water, in which parsley roots have been boiled, till it has acquired a very strong flavour, and when the fish are dished throw some of this liquor over them. The Dutch sauce for them is made thus:—To a pint of white wine vinegar add a blade or two of mace; let it stew gently by the fire, and, when the vinegar is sufficiently flavoured by the mace, put into it about a pound of butter. Shake the saucepan now and then, and, when the butter is quite melted, make all exceedingly hot; have ready the yolks of four good eggs beaten up. You must continue beating them while another person gently pours to them the boiling vinegar by degrees, lest they should curdle; and continue stirring them all the while. Set it over a gentle fire, still continuing to stir until it is very hot and of the thickness you desire; then serve it.

Sprats, to bake.

Wipe your sprats with a clean cloth; rub them with pepper and salt, and lay them in a pan. Bruise a pennyworth of cochineal; put it into the vinegar, and pour it over the sprats with some bay-leaves. Tie them down close with coarse paper in a deep brown pan, and set them in the oven all night. They eat very fine cold.

You may put to them a pint of vinegar, half a pint of red wine, and spices if you like it; but they eat very well without.

Sturgeon, to roast.

Put a walnut-sized bit of butter (or more if it is a large fish), rolled in flour, in a stewpan, with sweet-herbs, cloves, a gill of water, and a spoonful of vinegar; stir it over the fire, and when it is lukewarm take it off, and put in your sturgeon to steep. When it has been a sufficient time to take the flavour of the herbs, roast it, and when done, serve it with court bouillon, or any other fish sauce.

Turbot, to dress.

Wipe your turbot very dry, then take a deep stewpan, put in the fish, with two bay-leaves, a handful of parsley, a large onion stuck with cloves, some salt, and cayenne; heat a pint of white wine boiling hot, and pour it upon the turbot; then strain in some very strong veal gravy, (made from your stock jelly,) more than will cover it; set it over a stove, and let it simmer very gently, that the full strength of the ingredients may be infused into it. When it is quite done, put it on a hot dish; strain the gravy into a saucepan, with some butter and flour to thicken it.

Plaice, dabs, and flounders, may be dressed in the same way.

Turbot, plain boiled.

Make a brine with two handfuls of salt in a gallon of water, let the turbot lie in it two hours before it is to be boiled; then set on a fish-kettle, with water enough to cover it, and about half a pint of vinegar, or less if the turbot is small; put in a piece of horseradish; when the water boils put in the turbot, the white side uppermost, on a fish-plate; let it be done enough, but not too much, which will be easily known by the look. A small one will take twenty minutes, a large one half an hour. Then take it up, and set it on a fish-plate to drain, before it is laid in the dish. See that it is served quite dry. Sauce—lobster and white sauce.

Turbot, to boil.

Put the turbot into a kettle, with white wine vinegar and lemon; season with salt and onions; add to these water. Boil it over a gentle fire, skimming it very clean. Garnish with slices of lemon on the top.

Turbot, to boil in Gravy.

Wash and well dry a middling sized turbot; put it with two bay-leaves into a deep stew-dish, with some cloves, a handful of parsley, a large onion, and some salt and pepper, add a pint of boiling hot white wine, strain in some strong veal gravy that will more than cover the fish, and remove it on one side that the ingredients may be well mixed together. Lay it on a hot dish, strain the gravy into a saucepan with some butter and flour, pour a little over the fish, and put the remainder in a sauce terrine.

Turbot, to boil in Court Bouillon, with Capers.

Be very particular in washing and drying your turbot. Take thyme, parsley, sweet-herbs of all sorts, minced very fine, and one large onion sliced; put them into a stewpan, then lay in the turbot—the stewpan should be just large enough to hold the fish—strew over the fish the same herbs that are under it, with some chives and a little sweet basil; pour in an equal quantity of white wine and white wine vinegar, till the fish is completely covered; strew in a little bay salt with some pepper. Set the stewpan over a stove, with a very gentle fire, increasing the heat by degrees, till it is done sufficiently. Take it off the fire, but do not take the turbot out: let it stand on the side of the stove. Set a saucepan on the fire, with a pound of butter and two anchovies, split, boned, and carefully cleansed, two large spoonfuls of capers cut small, some chives whole, and a little cayenne, nutmeg grated, a little flour, a spoonful of vinegar, and a little broth. Set the saucepan over the stove, keep shaking it round for some time, and then leave it at the side of the stove. Take up the stewpan in which is the turbot, and set it on the stove to make it quite hot; then put it in a deep dish; and, having warmed the sauce, pour it over it, and serve up.

Soles, flounders, plaice, &c. are all excellent dressed in the same way.

Turbot, to fry.

It must be a small turbot. Cut it across, as if it were ribbed; when it is quite dry, flour it, and put it into a large frying-pan with boiling butter enough to cover it; fry it brown, then drain it. Put in enough claret to cover it, two anchovies, salt, a scruple of nutmeg and ginger, and let it stew slowly till half the liquor is wasted; then take it out, and put in a piece of butter, of the size of a walnut, rolled in flour, and a lemon minced, juice and all. Let these ingredients simmer till of a proper thickness. Rub a hot dish with an eschalot or onion; pour the sauce in, and lay the turbot carefully in the midst.

Turbot or Barbel, glazed.

Lard the upper part of your turbot or barbel with fine bacon. Let it simmer slowly between slices of ham, with a little champagne, or fine white, and a bunch of sweet-herbs. Put into another stewpan part of a fillet of veal, cut into dice, with one slice of ham; stew them with some fine cullis, till the sauce is reduced to a thick gravy. When thoroughly done, strain it off before you serve it, and, with a feather, put it over your turbot to glaze it. Then pour some good cullis into the stewpan, and toss it up as a sauce to serve in the dish, adding the juice of a lemon.

Turbot, to dress en gras, or in a rich fashion.

Put into a stewpan a small quantity of broth, several slices of veal, and an equal quantity of ham, a little cayenne, and a bunch of sweet-herbs. Let it stew over a very slow stove, and add a glass of champagne. When this is completely done, serve it with any of the sauces, named in the article Sauces, added to its own.

Turbot or Barbel, to dress en maigre, or in a lean fashion.

Put into a stewpan a large handful of salt, a pint of water, a clove of garlic, onions, and all sorts of sweet kitchen herbs, the greater variety the better, only an equal quantity of each. Boil the whole half an hour over a slow fire; let it settle. Pour off the clear part of the sauce, and strain it through a sieve; then put twice as much rich milk as there is of the brine, and put the fish in it over a very slow fire, letting it simmer only. When your turbot is done, pour over it any of the sauces named as being proper for fish in the article Sauces.

Turtle, to dress.

After having killed the turtle, divide the back and belly, cleaning it well from the blood in four or five waters, with some salt; take away the fins from the back, and scrape and scald them well from the scales; then put the meat into the saucepan, with a little salt and water just to cover it; stew it, and keep skimming it very clean all the while it is stewing. Should the turtle be a large one, put a bottle of white wine; if a small one, half that quantity. It must be stewed an hour and a half before you put in the wine, and the scum have done rising; for the wine being put in before turns it hard; and, while it is stewing, put an onion or two shred fine, with a little parsley, thyme, salt, and black pepper. After it has stewed tender, take it out of the saucepan, and cut it into small pieces; let the back shell be well washed clean from the blood, and rub it with salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, and onions, shred fine, mixed well together; put a layer of seasoning into the shell, and lay on your meat, and so continue till the shell is filled, covering it with seasoning. If a large turtle, two pounds of butter must be cut into bits, and laid between the seasoning and the meat. You must thicken the soup with butter rolled in flour. An hour and a half is requisite for a large turtle.

Whiting, to dry.

Take the whiting when they come fresh in, and lay them in salt and water about four hours, the water not being too salt. Hang them up by the tails two days near a fire, after which, skin and broil them.