Cookery

of fish under treatment. Cover the saucepan and let the mixture gently boil until the carrots, etc., are quite tender. Then use the liquor to boil the fish. Or put the latter into the kettle with water enough to cover it, a teacupful of vinegar, salt to taste, two sprigs of thyme, one bay-leaf, a couple of eschalots, and half-a-dozen peppercorns. In spite of these instructions, however, plain water can naturally be used if preferred. Before giving various recipes for preparing fish, it may be useful to set down here instructions for making what in French is called a "matelote," which consists of a mixture in which different kinds of fish can be cooked to provide a change from the plain fried or boiled, or fish served in more complicated sauces. This matelote can be of two kinds — first the plain, which is made thus: In a saucepan over the fire beat up a piece of butter to a cream with about two tablespoonfuls of Hour ; add to this a cupful of stock, and two of white cooking wine (the size of the cup must be determined by the quantity of liquor needed for the particular occasion) ; add to this some sliced onions, salt, pepper, and one pounded clove; stir and let the mixture boil for about twenty minutes; into this put whatever fish is under treatment, cut in suitable pieces; when tender dish it up, keep it hot, and meantime thicken the sauce with yolks of eggs, pour over the fish and serve. Or make it with red wine as follows: Brown in some hot butter a fair number of tiny onions or larger ones SI thinly sliced, take them out and stir into the fat that remains two tablespoonfuls of Hour ; to this add two cupfuls of red wine and one of stock, let this slowly boil for about half an hour. This will not require any egg thickening. Pike, eels, barbel, in short almost any except such flat fish as sole, turbot, etc., or such rich fish as salmon, can with advantage be cooked and served with the matelotes. Salmon. — This should be carefully scaled, and emptied and washed by the openings made near the gills. The time required varies according to size. A small fish prepared whole should gently simmer for about two hours, but it is perhaps safest to reckon about half an hour’s slow simmering to every pound of this fish. It may be served plain with cucumber, with an accompanying white sauce of almost anv description, or cold with a mayonnaise. Salman (with Mushrooms).— Put the piece of fish into a saucepan with about a dozen, small onions, the same quantity of mushrooms and some butter, sprinkle it with flour, and let it brown on both sides. Add equal quantities of white wine and light stock (enough to cover), season to taste, put on the lid and let it simmer from one to two hours, moistening occasionally with more stock if absolutely necessary. When the fish is done put it on a hot dish, take out the onions, thicken the liquor with the yolk of an egg, throw in a dessertspoonful of very finely-chopped chives and tarragon, and serve very hot. ('«rp (with Wine Sauce). Afterscaling and cleaning r> 2