FISH.
BOILED FISH WITH EGG SAUCE.
Turn the tail through the eyes, place in a pan and cover with water and a little salt. Allow eight minutes to each pound of fish. For the egg sauce, melt one spoonful of butter and one of flour; when smooth, add gradually one gill of boiling water. Be careful to keep stirring with back of the spoon till all the water is added. Have a hard-boiled egg chopped fine to add to the sauce, and serve in a butter-boat. Have a napkin neatly folded on an ashet, lay your fish on it, and garnish with parsley.
FRIED HADDOCK.
I may here tell you about boiling lard. To know when it is hot enough for frying fish, &c., put a small piece of bread in, and if it browns quickly, the lard is ready. If it is inclined to burn, put in a small piece of potato.
Cut your haddock up the back and take the flesh from the bones; cut each side in two, making in all four pieces. Dip each piece first in flour, then in a little batter made of flour and water, or in a beat-up egg; then in bread-crumbs, and fry in the boiling lard. Fried parsley should be served with it.
TO MAKE FISH STOCK FOR SAUCES OR SOUPS.
Take any white fish bones you may have, and put them into a pan with three cloves, an onion, pepper, salt, a few herbs according to taste, and a piece of maize, enough to cover a threepenny piece. Cover with water, and boil slowly half-an-hour; then strain through a sieve, and set in a cool place till required.
HADDOCK À LA MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL.
Have some filleted haddocks; lay the fillets one across the other on a plate that will stand the fire, with a small piece of butter on the top, and some pepper, salt, and chopped parsley. Cover with a greased paper, and bake in a moderate oven ten minutes. For sauce, melt one ounce of butter and one ounce of flour in a pan, add a cup of milk by degrees, and a little cream if you have it, and a few drops of lemon juice. Dish your fish in a hot corner-dish, with the sauce over it.
MERLAN AU GRATIN.
Have some whitings skinned, with their tails turned through their eyes. Butter a dish that will stand the fire, sprinkle some bread-crumbs, and brown in the oven. Serve with a brown sauce made in the ordinary way—a brown sauce made of butter, flour, and water.
WHITINGS BROILED.
Skin and flour your whitings. Grease your gridiron with a buttered paper; lay on the fish; keep it a little distance from the fire at first. Time to cook, twenty minutes. Dish on a napkin, garnish with parsley, and serve with melted butter in a sauce-boat.
BOILED HERRINGS À LA CRÊME.
Boil any quantity of herrings you require ten minutes in water, with a little salt; dish them without a napkin. Have ready the following sauce: Put six table-spoonfuls of cream in a stew-pan, with a little pepper and salt. When nearly boiling add an ounce of fresh butter and the juice of half a lemon. Stir it quickly, and pour it over the fish when sent to table.
TURBOT WITH SPAWN SAUCE.
Cook your turbot as in first recipe; only, instead of cream sauce, use the following: Get from the fishmonger’s about two ounces of fish spawn, and pound it in a mortar along with three ounces of butter; rub through a sieve, place it in a cold place to firm, then put it in a stew-pan with the yolks of two eggs, a little pepper and salt, four tea-spoonfuls of lemon juice, half-a-cup of melted butter, and two tea-spoonfuls of anchovy. Pass it through a tammie, put into a clean pan and make it hot. Have your fish on a hot dish, then pour the sauce over it.
TURBOT WITH CREAM SAUCE.
Turbot must be well rubbed with salt and lemon before being put into water. Have a large fish-kettle, and to every pound of turbot allow a quart of water, and to every quart of water put in two ounces of salt. A piece of turbot weighing four pounds will require to simmer twenty minutes. Lift out the fish with a drainer when done, and cover with a clean cloth. If sauce is wanted, dish without a napkin; if not wanted, dish on a napkin, with some slices of lemon and parsley. For the sauce, put one ounce of butter and the same of flour in a pan and melt over the fire; add a breakfast-cupful of milk, a little good cream, the yolk of an egg beat-up, some pepper, salt, and the juice of a lemon. This sauce may be either poured over the turbot, or served up in a butter-boat.
SMELTS FRIED.
Dry the fish on a napkin, dip them in very thick cream, and immediately afterwards in flour, so that it forms a paste round them. Fry them in very hot lard, dress them on a napkin, and garnish with fried parsley. No sauce is required.
STUFFED FISH.
Fillet two large haddocks, make a veal stuffing, and spread over the fillets. Roll up. Sprinkle some bread-crumbs over and small bits of butter, bake in the oven for fifteen minutes, till brown; pour a brown sauce over.
MELTED BUTTER.
Place two ounces of butter and two ounces of flour in a sauce-pan and melt. Stir in two cups of boiling water, switch quickly while pouring in the water. If rich sauce is required, add one ounce more of butter, with pepper and salt. This is the foundation of a number of other sauces such as—egg, shrimp, lobster, oyster, anchovy, giving the name to the sauce according to what is added. But if it be oyster, the liquor of the oysters must be added; also a little cream and white pepper.
CRIMPED SALMON.
Let two quarts of water be boiling in a stew-pan with two ounces of salt, lay in two slices of salmon (if more salmon is required add more water), boil quickly for fifteen or twenty minutes. Try the bone in the middle, and if it leaves easily, the fish is ready. Do not leave the fish in the water, as it spoils it. To keep a nice red colour, skim the water while boiling. If it has to be kept, owing to the dinner being later, put a hot wet cloth over it and set it in a warm cupboard. Serve with shrimp or lobster sauce.
FILLET HADDOCKS À LA MAÎTRE D’HOTÊL.
Skin and fillet two haddocks, lay the fillets across each other on a dish that will stand the fire. Sprinkle some pepper and salt, place some bits of butter on the top, cover with a greased white paper, and cook in the oven for ten minutes. Serve with sauce à la maître d’hôtel.
TURBOT BAKED.
Cook a turbot as before mentioned, but boil only ten minutes instead of twenty. Make a brown sauce in the ordinary way, and have some chopped parsley, chopped capers, and an onion cut in rings. Place your fish in a baking dish, pour the sauce over it, then sprinkle parsley, onion, and bread-crumbs, along with some small pieces of butter on the top, and bake in a hot oven.
PLAIN BOILED SALMON.
Put your fish in cold water (a pound of salt to every six quarts of water), cover it well with the water, and set it to simmer over a moderate fire. A fish weighing four pounds requires half-an-hour to boil, and one eight pounds three-quarters of an hour. Serve with shrimp or lobster sauce.
SAUCE À LA MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL.
Place in a sauce-pan half-an-ounce of butter, half-an-ounce of flour, and melt over the fire; then add a tea-cupful of milk, a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, and boil for fifteen minutes; then a squeeze of a lemon and a glass of cream.
SAUCE À LA REGENCE.
Place one cupful of fish liquor in a sauce-pan with the red part of half a carrot, half an onion, a small piece of turnip cut in thin stripes, an inch in length. Boil till tender, then add two ounces of browned flour and butter, pepper and salt. This sauce will do for stewed fish.