Chambers's cookery for young housewives

18 oysters. Lemon-juice. OYSTER OMELET. 2 oz. butter. Cayenne pepper. Salt. Beat the eggs very lightly. Beard the oysters ; stir them into the beaten eggs, and season highly with Cayenne, sail, and lemon-juice. Melt the butter in a clean omelet-pan, skim away all froth, and pour in the egg mixture before the butter becomes coloured. Hold the handle, and keep the pan moving over the fire until the omelet mixture looks of the consistency of thick cream; let the pan then rest over the fire for about a minute. Swiftly slide a broad pliable knife or a slice under one half, and fold it over the other half to form an oval. Trim the edges neatly, and tilt the pan, so that the lower side of the omelet may become of a golden-brown colour ; it will then be ready. Reverse the pan over a hot dish, and serve quickly with the brown side uppermost. The omelet should be brown and firm on the outside, but soft and creamy inside when broken. Never turn an omelet, as this makes it heavy. FISH PIE. 2 haddocks. 3 oz. butter. 18 oysters. 1 lemon. 1 egg. 1 gill milk. Bread crumbs. Pepper and salt. Clean, skin, and fillet the haddocks. Butter a flat dish and put into it first a layer of bread crumbs, then a layer ot haddock, cut in pieces ; next oysters, lemon-juice, and seasonings ; then another layer of bread crumbs, with small pieces of butter. Repeat this until all the fish is used up. Pour over the oyster liquor mixed with the beaten egg and milk. Cover the top with bread crumbs and a few pieces of butter ; bake for about half an hour in a good hot oven. Serve hot. 7 G MACKEREL — FISH AND SAUCE— STEWED EELS. MACKEREL. Mackerel may lie boiled or broiled, but never fried. It is a very delicate and easily-disfigured fish, and must be handled as little and as lightly as possible. Fennel sauce should be served with boiled mackerel. BROILED MACKEREL. 1 mackerel. I Butter. Pepper. | Salt. Fennel or parsley. Wash the mackerel well, split it open, and carefully remove the backbone ; season it with pepper and salt ; place it on a hot, well-greased gridiron, and cook it for about seven minutes over a clear fire, turning it frequently and carefully ; lift it on to a hot dish, sprinkle over it a little chopped fennel or parsley, put upon it a good pat of butter1, and serve at once. FISH AND SAUCE. 2 haddocks. 1 onion. 1 table-spoonful ketchup. 1 oz. butter. 1 table-spoonful parsley. 1 oz. flour. 1 pint water. Pepper and salt. Thoroughly cleanse the fish, and let them lie all night among salt. Next day skin them, and cut off the heads, tails, and fins. Boil these trimmings for three-quarters of an hour in water. Brown the flour and butter in a stew-pan. Add the liquor strained, then the sliced onion, and other seasonings. Boil and skim thoroughly for about fifteen minutes. Cut the fish in pieces, add it to the sauce, and let it simmer gently for ten minutes. Lift the fish into the centre of a hot dish, pour the sauce over, and serve hot. TO STEW EELS. 2 eels. Flour. 2 oz. butter. 2 table-spoonfuls ketcliup. Water. Parsley. Clean and skin the eels ; cut off the heads, fins, and tails, and divide the bodies into pieces of four or five inches long. JDust each piece with flour. Melt the butter in a stew-pan, and brown the pieces of fish all over; pour on as much baked HERRINGS — BOILED SALT FISH — FRIED OYSTERS. 77