Method.—Grease a pie-dish, and put some herrings at the bottom.
Sprinkle them with the parsley and onion finely chopped, and the pepper and salt.
Put another layer of herrings on the top, and sprinkle them similarly.
Proceed in the same way until the dish is full.
Cover them with vinegar.
Place over them a dish, and bake in a slow oven for three or four hours.
Herrings cooked in this way are used cold.
Method.—Dry the smelts well, and fix their tails in their mouths.
Cover them with egg and bread-crumbs, and fry them a golden brown in a frying-basket in hot fat (seeFrench Frying).
Garnish with fried parsley, and serve with melted butter or other suitable sauce.
Method.—Lay the smelts on a greased baking-sheet.
Sprinkle under and over them the parsley, shalot, and mushrooms, finely chopped, with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.
Cover them with browned bread-crumbs, and put little bits of butter over them.
Bake them in a moderate oven for seven or ten minutes. Put them on a hot dish, and pour melted glaze overthem.
These two fish may be cooked according to any of the recipes given for dressing cod.
Method.—Boil the salmon carefully according to the directions given for boiling fish.
Garnish with coral and parsley, and serve withtartare sauce(seeSauces).
If the salmon is served cold, the tartare sauce is poured over it. If hot, it is served in a sauce-boat.
A slice of salmon is frequently grilled, and served with tartare sauce.
Method.—Lay the salmon in a deep pan or pie-dish.
Boil the fish liquor, vinegar, and other ingredients for a quarter of an hour.
Let it get cold, and then pour over the salmon, which should be allowed to remain in the pickle until the next day.
Method.—Put plenty of oil or fat into a stewpan, and make it hot (seeFrench Frying). The heat of the fat for whitebait should be 400°.
Have a good heap of flour on a cloth.
As soon as the fat is hot, throw the whitebait into the flour, and, taking the cloth by each end, shake the whitebait rapidly until they are well floured.
Turn them quickly into a frying-basket.
Shake the basket well for the loose flour to drop off, and throw the whitebait into the fat for a minute.
As soon as they rise to the surface, remove them with a fish-slice, and drain them on kitchen paper.
Serve them with brown bread and butter, and slices of lemon.
Method.—Beard the oysters, and cut off the hard white part; cut each oyster in two.
Strain the oyster liquor through muslin.
Put the beards into the milk, and simmer them in it to extract the flavour.
Then melt the butter in a saucepan, and mix in the flour smoothly.
Strain in the milk, and add the oyster liquor. Stir and cook well.
Then add the cream, and let it boil in the sauce.
Lastly, add the pepper, salt, cayenne, and the oysters.
Fill the patty cases with the mixture.
Put the lid on each, and decorate with powdered lobster coral.
Serve hot or cold.
Method.—Grease some scallop shells, and place on each two or three oysters.
Cover them with broad-crumbs, and put a little piece of butter on each.
Brown them in a quick oven, and serve very hot.
Method.—Beard the oysters, and cut them in two.
Strain the oyster liquor through muslin.
Simmer the beards in the milk.
Melt the butter in a small stewpan, and mix in the flour smoothly.
Strain in the milk, add the oyster liquor, stir, and cook well.
Then add the cream, and let it boil in the sauce.
Lastly, add lemon juice, pepper, salt, cayenne, and oysters.
Grease some scallop shells, and sprinkle them with bread-crumbs.
Fill them with the mixture, and sprinkle some more crumbs over them.
Brown in a quick oven.
Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with parsley and cut lemon.
Method.—Split open the mackerel, and remove the back-bones as cleanly as possible.
Grease a baking-tin, and lay one of the mackerel, skin downwards, on it.
Mix the herbs, parsley, shalot, and bread-crumbs together with pepper and salt, and sprinkle them over the fish.
Lay the other mackerel on the top, with the skin uppermost.
Put little bits of butter or dripping about it, and bake from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour.
For serving, sprinkle over a few brown bread-crumbs.
Method.—Mix the crumbs, parsley, herbs, pepper and salt, with the egg or milk.
Put the stuffing in the haddock, and fasten it with a small skewer.
Then truss it with string, or two skewers, in the form of the letter S.
Place it on a greased baking-tin; and put a few pieces of butter or dripping on it.
Bake it in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes.
To serve, place it on a dish and remove the skewers.
Garnish with parsley.
Method.—Cut the tail of a cod into neat cutlets.
Season them with pepper and salt, and cover them with egg and bread-crumbs.
Fry them in a frying-basket in hot fat (seeFrench Frying).
Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.
Method.—Divide the cod into neat cutlets.
Place them on a greased baking-sheet.
Sprinkle over them a few drops of lemon juice, pepper, and salt, and cover them with buttered paper.
Bake them in a moderate oven from ten to twelve minutes.
Dish them in a circle, and pour over them some Italian sauce (seeSauces).
Garnish with coral and truffle.
Cook some cod cutlets as in preceding recipe, and serve withGenoise sauce(seeSauces). Garnish with coral and truffle.
Method.—Rub the tomatoes through a hair sieve.
Then put thepuréethus obtained into a saucepan, and lay the pieces of cod in it. There should be enough tomatopuréeto cover the cod.
Simmer gently until the cod is tender.
Add the vinegar and seasoning, dish in a circle, and pour the tomato over.
Method.—Break the fish into flakes.
Make the sauce quite hot.
Put the fish into it, and warm it through.
There should be just enough sauce to moisten the cod.
Heap it in a pyramid shape on a hot dish.
Garnish it with rings cut from the hard-boiled eggs.
Sprinkle over the top of the cod the yolks rubbed through a wire sieve or strainer.
Method.—Soak the sounds in water for about six hours.
Then boil them in milk and water for half an hour or more until quite tender.
Cut them in pieces about two inches square, and make them hot in someBéchamelsauce.
Pile them on a dish in the form of a pyramid, with slices of hard-boiled egg, cut lemon, and parsley.
Method.—Soak the cod sounds in water for about six hours, and then boil them in milk and water until tender.
Cut them in pieces an inch and a half square.
Mix together equal quantities of oil and vinegar, and add to them a shalot and some parsley, very finely chopped; pepper, and salt.
Steep the sounds in themarinade.
Just before serving, dip each one inKromeskybatter, and fry in hot fat (seeFrench Frying).
Dish in a circle, and pour over them some piquant sauce.
Decorate with truffle and coral.
Method.—Fasten the stuffing securely in the cod.
Place it on a greased baking-sheet, and cover it with browned crumbs.
Place small pieces of butter or dripping about it, and bake it in a moderate oven for about half an hour, basting occasionally.
Serve with cut lemon, and garnish with parsley.
Note.—A small cod may be stuffed and cooked like a haddock.
Note.—A small cod may be stuffed and cooked like a haddock.
This fish may be boiled, baked, or fried.
Fillet the plaice by cutting down the centre of the fish with a sharp knife and removing the flesh from either side.
Egg and bread-crumb the fillets, and fry in hot fat (seeFrench Frying).
Drain on kitchen paper, serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.
Prepare like the fillets of plaice, with the exception that the sole should be skinned before it is filleted.
Method.—Rub the potatoes through a sieve.
Break the fish into flakes, removing the bones.
Mix the fish and potatoes together; blend themthoroughly with the butter, pepper, salt, and a well-beaten egg.
Form the mixture into balls or cakes.
Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot fat (seeFrench Frying).
Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.
Make a mixture of fish and potatoes as in preceding recipe. Put it on a dish that will stand the heat of the oven, and mould it into the form of a fish.
Bake for half an hour.
This fish may be cooked and served like cod or turbot.
Method.—Lay the mullets in a well-buttered baking-sheet; moisten them with the catsup, and sprinkle with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.
Put some little bits of butter over them.
Bake in a moderate oven for a quarter of an hour or more until cooked.
Lay them on a hot dish.
Mix the liquor from the mullets with some Italian sauce (seeSauces), and pour over.
Garnish with truffle andcoral.
Method.—Lay the mullets on a well-greased baking-sheet.
Moisten them with the port wine and lemon juice, and put little bits of butter about them.
Bake them in a moderate oven until cooked.
Lay them on a hot dish.
Mix the liquor from the mullets with the Genoise sauce, and pour over them.
Method.—Chop the shalots and mushrooms, and mix them with the parsley.
Oil some pieces of foolscap paper.
Lay the mullets on them; sprinkle over them the parsley, mushroom, shalot, lemon juice, pepper and salt.
Fold them in the cases, and cook on a well-greased baking-sheet, in a moderate oven, for about twenty or thirty minutes.
Fasten the tail in the mouth of each whiting, and lay them on a fish strainer.
Put them into boiling water, with salt in it, and cook them gently for five minutes or more.
Dish on a folded napkin, and garnish with parsley, coral, and cut lemon.
Serve with themmaître d'hôtel,Béchamel, Italian, Genoise, or any other suitable sauce.
Method.—Skin the whiting, and fasten the tail in the mouth.
Dry them well with a cloth.
Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in a frying-basket, in hot fat (seeFrench Frying).
Drain them on kitchen paper, and dish on a folded napkin.
Garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.
Béchamel, lobster, shrimp, Italian, Genoise, or any other suitable sauce, may be served with them.
Method.—Skin and fillet the whiting.
Lay the fillets on a well-buttered baking-sheet.
Sprinkle with lemon-juice, pepper and salt, and cover them with buttered paper.
Cook them in a moderate oven, from seven to ten minutes.
Dish in a circle, and pour Italian sauce over.
Garnish with truffle and coral.
Prepare the whiting as in preceding receipt, substituting Genoise for Italian sauce.
Method.—Remove the flesh from the body of the lobster, and cut it up.
Pound the coral in a mortar, with half an ounce of butter, and rub it through a hair sieve. (If spawn is used it need not be pounded.)
Melt 1 oz. of butter in a stewpan.
Mix in the flour; add the water; stir until it thickens.
Then add the coral, and butter, and cook well.
Next the cream, lemon juice, cayenne, pepper, salt, and lastly the chopped lobster.
Spread the mixture on a plate to cool.
When cool, shape into cutlets.
Egg and bread-crumb, and fry in hot fat in a frying-basket.
Put a piece of the feeler in each, to represent a bone.
Garnish with fried parsley.
Shape some of the lobster-cutlet mixture into cutlets.
Roll in dried and powdered coral, and put a piece of feeler in each.
Pour a little aspic jelly into a clean Yorkshire-pudding tin, or frying-pan.
When set, lay the cutlets on it, and pour in, gently, enough aspic to cover them.
When firm, cut them out with a border of aspic to each, and serve on chopped aspic.
Method.—Remove the dark skin, and notch the other, here and there, with a knife.
Dry the sole well in a floured cloth.
Brush over with egg, and cover with bread-crumbs.
Flatten them on with a broad-bladed knife, and fry the sole a golden brown in hot fat (for heat of fatseeFrench Frying).
A fish-fryer, or a deep frying-pan, should be used for the purpose; and there should be sufficient fat to cover the sole, so that it will not require turning.
When cooked, drain on kitchen paper.
Dish on a folded napkin.
Garnish with fried parsley.
Method.—Remove the dark skin, and notch the other with a knife.
Lay the sole in a baking-pan, and pour over it the stock and sherry.
Cover with a dish, and bake for twenty or thirty minutes in a moderate oven.
Place it on a hot dish.
Boil the stock rapidly down to half the quantity.
Add to it the sauces, lemon juice, and seasoning, and pour it over the sole.
Method.—Remove both skins from the soles, and fillet them.
Spread some of the lobster-cutlet mixture on the half of each fillet, and fold over.
Place on a greased baking-sheet; sprinkle over lemon juice and salt, and cover with buttered paper.
Bake in a moderate oven for about twelve minutes.
Dish in a circle, and pour over white sauce, mixed with chopped truffle.
Method.—Roll or fold the fillets, and cook like the Soleà la Rouennaise.
Cover them with the same sauce as in the last recipe, using chopped parsley instead of truffle.
Method.—Grease a dish that will stand the heat of the oven.
Sprinkle on it half of the parsley, shalot, and mushroom, with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.
Lay the sole on the mixture, and sprinkle the remainder of the parsley, &c., over it.
Cover with brown bread-crumbs, and put half an ounce of butter about it, in small pieces.
Bake from ten to fifteen minutes, according to size, and serve-with glaze poured round it.
Method.—Remove the head and fins of the gurnets, and stuff them with veal stuffing, fastening it in with small skewers.
Lay them on a well-buttered baking-tin, and pour over them the stock, sherry, and catsup.
Bake them in a moderate oven until cooked.
Then place them on a hot dish, mix the liquor from them with the sauce and pour over.
Method.—Cut the eels in pieces about 2½ inches long.
Fry them brown in the butter.
Then put them in a stewpan with the stock.
Stew gently, until tender.
Then remove them from the stock, and put them in a hot dish.
Thicken the stock with the flour.
Add the wine, lemon juice, and seasoning.
Pour over the eels, and serve very hot.
Fewpeople are successful in making pastry. Yet, with a little practice, there is no reason why any one should not make it with some degree of perfection, if the following rules are carefully attended to.
Make the pastry in a cool place, not in a hot kitchen. The board, rolling-pin, and hands should be as cold as possible. Handle it very lightly. The colder pastry is kept during making, the lighter it will be, because it will contain more air; cold air occupies a much less space than warm. The colder the air, the greater, consequently, will be its expansion when the pastry is put into a very hot oven. Roll the paste lightly, and not more than necessary. Puff paste is a kind of fine sandwich. There should be a certain number of layers of dough and layers of butter. Take care, therefore, that the butter is not allowed to break through the dough; and bevery careful to followthe directions given for making this pastry. Its manufacture requires patience, because, if it is not properly cooled between the turns, the friction of rolling will warm the butter, and cause it to smear into the dough. For short crust, rub the butter or fat lightly into the flour with the tips of the fingers; and do not use more water than necessary in mixing it. This is a common mistake; and too much water deprives the paste of its shortness. Short paste is the best for children and persons of weak digestion; the flour in it being more thoroughly incorporated with the fat, gets better cooked. It is, therefore, capableof more perfect mastication than puff or flaky crust, both of which are liable to be swallowed in flakes.
However well pastry is made, success will not be attained unless the oven is rightly heated. The very lightest crusts will often be totally spoiled in the baking because this important point is not attended to. If the oven is not very hot, the fat will melt and run out of the pastry before the starch grains in the flour burst; consequently, they cannot afterwards expand, however hot the oven may be made; and in this way the paste will become heavy. Take great care, therefore, that the oven is very hot when the paste is put into it.
Watch the paste carefully that it does not take too dark a colour. When it is well thrown up and nearly cooked, it may be removed to a more moderately heated part of the oven if it should appear to be browning too quickly.
Ovens in which the heat comes from the bottom are decidedly the best for either cakes or pastry; but no one should expect to bake well in an oven they do not thoroughly understand. There is so much difference in ovens, that the hottest part of one may be the coolest in another. To bake well requires practice and experience, and no one should be discouraged by a few failures.
Method.—Rub the flour through a wire sieve.
Make a well in the middle, and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice.
Mix very gradually with very cold water, taking care that the dough is not too stiff.
Then knead and work well about until quite smooth.
Set it aside for a few minutes to get quite cold.
Squeeze the butter in a cloth to press out the water.
Roll out the dough, and place the butter, flattened to a third of its size, in the middle.
Then fold the dough from either side over it, pressing the edges together.
Turn it with its edges toward you, and roll out very gently (care must be taken that the butter does not break through the dough).
Fold it again in three, and put it aside to cool for quite a quarter of an hour. The colder it is kept the better.
Then turn its edges towards you, and roll it out again; fold evenly in three, and roll and fold again in the same manner; each roll and fold is called a turn.
Cool the paste for another quarter of an hour.
Then give it two more turns.
Let it cool again; and at the seventh roll it will probably be ready for use.
It is, however, wise to bake a small piece of the paste before using the whole quantity. If the maker has a very light hand it sometimes happens that eight or even nine turns may be necessary to roll the butter sufficiently into the flour.
Roll the puff paste, when ready, to rather more than a quarter of an inch in thickness.
Take a fluted cutter about the size of a tumbler.
Dip it in very hot water, and cut the paste into rounds with it.
Mark the middle of these rounds with a cutter about three sizes smaller.
Roll out the remains of the paste to half the thickness of the patties.
Stamp out some rounds for covers with a fluted cutter two sizes smaller than that used for the cases.
Put the cases and covers on a baking-tin, and bake in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes.
When cooked, lift the lid and scrape out the soft inside carefully.
Method.—Rub the butter into the flour until like fine bread-crumbs.
Mix with cold water, using as little as possible (if too much is used the crust will not be short).
Roll gently to make the paste bind.
If this paste is used for tarts, add one dessertspoonful of castor sugar to the flour.
Method.—Make according to directions given in preceding recipe.
To make this crust still plainer, a quarter of a pound only of clarified dripping or lard may be taken, and three good teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
Method.—Make according to the directions for Short Crust.
Method.—Rub one half of the butter into the flour, as for short crust.
Mix with the water, and roll it out very thinly.
Put the remainder in little pieces on the paste.
Fold in three, and then in three again.
Roll out to the size required.