Fish well broiled is exceedingly tasty and delicious. This mode of cooking is usually chosen for small fish, such as herrings or mackerel, or for slices or fillets of large fish. Before being broiled the fish should be dipped in oil, or dissolved butter, and it should be seasoned with pepper and salt. The gridiron should, of course, be scrupulously clean, and the bars should be greased and warmed before the fish is laid upon them. The fire also should be clear and bright. It is convenient to broil fish on a gridiron which folds over, so that the fish can be turned without being touched. When a whole fish, such as a herring or mackerel✪ Broiled Fish, is broiled, it should be split open down the back, wiped with a clean cloth, not washed, brushed over with oil, seasoned with pepper and salt, and then be laid with the fleshy part to the fire first. Baking is not so usual a method of dressing fish as it deserves to be. This mode is specially suited to round white fish, such as haddock, gurnard, or codling, and with it great care is needed to keep the fish from getting dry. To this end it must not be over-cooked. A greased paper should also be laid over it in the tin, or it may be covered with egg and bread-crumbs, the object in both cases being to keep in the juices of the fish. Round fish are excellent stuffed with veal forcemeat and baked. Baked fish should be basted occasionally whilst it is being cooked. 88 The GirVs Own Cookery Book. A very excellent and pretty-looking dish may be made by filleting flat fish and baking it. I daresay you know that to fillet fish is to take the flesh from the bones in fillets. The fishmonger will undertake this business if asked to do so, but it is much better done at home, because there is no waste. The fish must first be cleaned and skinned ; the head, tail and fins must be cut off. A deep cut must then be made down the centre of the fish, along the backbone, and the knife slipped in un- derneath and drawn under the flesh to separate it from the bone all the way down. When half the flesh is thus lifted, the fish should be turned round and the other half treated in the same way, and when one side is filleted the fish should be turned over, wlien the other side can be operated upon. In this way we shall have four fillets from each fish. At first, it will be found a little difficult to get the flesh quite clean from the bones, but persevere ; skill will come with practice. We will suppose that we have successfully filleted a pair of moderate-sized soles, and consequently that we have eight long fillets and a quantity of bones, etc., at our disposal. How shall we proceed 1 First, we take the bones and trimmings and put them into a saucepan, and let them stew down gently to make fish stock. There is a good deal of nourishment in these trimmings, and, of course, as our object is to supply nourishment we cannot afford to throw any away. Therefore, we simmer the stock for a while, and then strain off the liquor, and use it instead of water when we come to make the sauce for our fish. 1 cannot speak of the sauce now, although 1 hope that shortly we may have a lesson on sauces ; but I may say in passing that all fish sauces should, when it is possible, be made of fish stock instead of water.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Fish well broiled is exceedingly tasty and delicious. This mode of cooking is usually chosen for small fish, such as herrings or mackerel, or for slices or fillets of large fish. Before being broiled the fish should be dipped in oil, or dissolved butter, and it should be seasoned with pepper and salt. The gridiron should, of course, be scrupulously clean, and the bars should be greased and warmed before the fish is laid upon them. The fire also should be clear and bright. It is convenient to broil fish on a gridiron which folds over, so that the fish can be turned without being touched. When a whole fish, such as a herring or mackerel, is broiled, it should be split open down the back, wiped with a clean cloth, not washed, brushed over with oil, seasoned with pepper and salt, and then be laid with the fleshy part to the fire first. Baking is not so usual a method of dressing fish as it deserves to be. This mode is specially suited to round white fish, such as haddock, gurnard, or codling, and with it great care is needed to keep the fish from getting dry. To this end it must not be over-cooked. A greased paper should also be laid over it in the tin, or it may be covered with egg and bread-crumbs, the object in both cases being to keep in the juices of the fish. Round fish are excellent stuffed with veal forcemeat and baked. Baked fish should be basted occasionally whilst it is being cooked. [illustration: 88 The Girl's Own Cookery Book.] A very excellent and pretty-looking dish may be made by filleting flat fish and baking it. I daresay you know that to fillet fish is to take the flesh from the bones in fillets. The fishmonger will undertake this business if asked to do so, but it is much better done at home, because there is no waste. The fish must first be cleaned and skinned ; the head, tail and fins must be cut off. A deep cut must then be made down the centre of the fish, along the backbone, and the knife slipped in underneath and drawn under the flesh to separate it from the bone all the way down. When half the flesh is thus lifted, the fish should be turned round and the other half treated in the same way, and when one side is filleted the fish should be turned over, when the other side can be operated upon. In this way we shall have four fillets from each fish. At first, it will be found a little difficult to get the flesh quite clean from the bones, but persevere ; skill will come with practice. We will suppose that we have successfully filleted a pair of moderate-sized soles, and consequently that we have eight long fillets and a quantity of bones, etc., at our disposal. How shall we proceed? First, we take the bones and trimmings and put them into a saucepan, and let them stew down gently to make fish stock. There is a good deal of nourishment in these trimmings, and, of course, as our object is to supply nourishment we cannot afford to throw any away. Therefore, we simmer the stock for a while, and then strain off the liquor, and use it instead of water when we come to make the sauce for our fish. 1 cannot speak of the sauce now, although 1 hope that shortly we may have a lesson on sauces ; but I may say in passing that all fish sauces should, when it is possible, be made of fish stock instead of water.

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Broiled Fish

The girl's own cookery book