Cookery for every household

Chop the shallot, put it into a small saucepan with the butter, and cook it a few minutes without allowing it to brown. Then add the white sauce, cheese, wine, and seasoning, mix thoroughly, and turn all on to a plate to cool. Choose small smoked sardines, drain them from their oil, and trim off the tails. Prepare some finger-shaped croutes of fried bread ; spread them with some of the above mixture, lay a sardine on the top of each, and cover with more of the mixture. Sprinkle with bread-crumbs, and place the croutes in a hot oven long enough to warm through. Then serve them at once, garnished with parsley. 2387. Sardine Croutes, 2 (Croutes de Sardines) 3 or 4 sardines. 1 egg. 1 dessert-sp. butter. 1 or 2 table-sps. milk. J tea-sp. anchovy essence Seasoning Hot buttered toast. Chopped parsley. Prepare 6 or 7 neat little rounds or fingers of hot buttered toast. Dip the sardines in hot water, then remove the skin and bone, and chop them rather finely. (Any small broken pieces of sardine may be used for this savoury.) Put the butter and milk into a saucepan and heat them over the fire. Now add the egg without beating it, the minced sardine and seasoning, and stir over the fire until the mixture begins to thicken. Then draw the saucepan to one side and stir a few seconds longer. Pile a little of this mixture on each piece of toast, sprinkle with finely-chopped parsley, and serve at once. and stir quickly over the fire until the ingredients form one smooth lump, which draws away easily from the sides, of the saucepan. Then remove the saucepan from the fire, allow the contents to cool slightly, and add the sardine paste (this can be bought ready). Season to taste with cayenne, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Then add the egg and beat it well into the mixture. Now put the mixture into a forcing bag, and force out small portions about the size of a walnut on a sheet of greased paper. When all are ready, slip them off with a palette knife into a saucepan of hot fat, and fry the beignets gently from 5 to 7 minutes, turning them over occasionally with a spoon. Drain and serve piled up on a dish paper as a hot savoury. 2391. Grilled Sardines (Sardines Grilles) Sardines. I Cut lemon. Flour. I Brown bread and butter. Choose small smoked sardines and drain them well from their oil. Then toss them lightly in finely sifted flour, place them on a greased grill, and grill them about 5 minutes. Serve them very hot, garnished with cut lemon, and hand thin brown bread and butter separately. 2388. Fried Sardines Sardines. I Hot buttered toast. Egg and biscuit crumbs. | Lemon and parsley. Choose large sardines, take them from their tin about an hour beforehand and let them drain, as the oil is rich and indigestible. Then egg them and toss in fine biscuit-crumbs. Make them very smooth and tidy, and then fry in boiling fat to a golden brown colour. Have ready a finger of hot buttered toast for each sardine, and put them in the oven to become crisp. Lay a sardine on each, and garnish with thin slices of lemon and small sprigs of parsley. Note. — If preferred, the sardines may be dipped in frying batter instead of the egg and breadcrumbs, or simply tossed in flour. 2389. Sardine Fritters, 1 (Beignets de Sardines) Sardines. Chopped parsley. Chopped shallot. Cayenne pepper. Lemon juice. Frying batter.