A text-book of cooking

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, adding enough milk to moisten. Pour into buttered timbale molds or into one bowl. Place on a rack in a pan, surround with hot water, and cover. Bake in the oven or cook on top of the range until the fish mixture is firm and is heated thoroughly. Turn out, and serve with White Sauce to which chopped parsley has been added. (For White Sauce, see White Sauce for Vegetables, p. 63.) For the fat of the White Sauce, use the oil drained from the salmon. Peas in White Sauce make a pleasing addition to Salmon Timbale. Other fish may be used instead of Salmon. What purpose do the eggs serve in Salmon Loaf ? Think of the effect of intense heat upon the different ingredients in this fish mixture, and then explain why it should not cook for a long time or at a high temperature. What is the price per can of salmon ? Name two fresh fish that are in market now. What is the price per pound of each ? LESSON XLIX Fish (II) Freshness of Fish. — Fish is a food which spoils very quickly, and which is dangerous to eat if not fresh. For this reason the housekeeper should be able to judge of the freshness of fish. In fresh fish : (a) The flesh is firm and elastic, especially along the backbone. (b) The gills are bright. (c) The eyes are bright and bulging. The sinking of fish when placed in water has also been given as an indication of its fitness for use as food. Decayed fish floats on water. Frozen fish is not desirable ; but if used, it should be thawed out by placing it in cold water just before cooking. Fish that has been thawed out and kept for some time before cooking is said to contain at times poisonous substances called ptomaines. Ptomaines in food may produce distressing effects or may even prove fatal. Fish should be kept in a cool place until used, but should not be placed uncovered in the refrigerator. It may, however, be tightly covered, — put in a tin pail or glass jar, — and placed in the refrigerator. Before cooking, fish should be washed with a cloth wet with salted water. On account of the odor, all utensils used in the cooking of fish should be washed in salted water. PISH 153 Baked Fish. — Clean and wash a large fish. The head or tail may or may not be removed before baking. If the head is retained, the eyes should be removed before serving; this is done more easily after cooking. If the tail is retained, it should be wrapped in oiled paper to prevent it from burning. Sprinkle salt on the inside of the fish and also on the outside, arid then fill with stuffing. " Lace " (see Dressing and Fig. 46. — Fish kettle, showing rack. Cleaning Poultry, p. 279) or skewer the edges together. Cut gashes on each side across the fish and put strips of salt pork into them or insert strips of pork with a larding needle. Oil a baking sheet or the rack of a fish kettle (see Fig. 46) and place the fish on it, forming the fish into an " S " by means of skewers. Place the sheet in a baking pan and add pieces of salt pork. Bake 15 minutes for each pound, or until the flesh can be separated easily from the bones by means of a skewer or a fork. If the baking pan is uncovered, baste every 10 minutes. When done, care- fully remove the fish from the pan and place on a platter, garnish with parsley and lemon, and serve with a sauce. In the absence of a baking sheet, two well oiled strips of muslin may be placed across the baking pan, underneath the fish. When baked, the fish may be removed easily from the pan by means of the strips of muslin. STUFFING FOR FISH 2 cupfuls soft bread crumbs 1 teaspoonful onion juice £ teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley \ teaspoonful pepper 1 teaspoonful capers or chopped Cayenne pickles 2 tablespoonfuls butter