Cookery

Soles. — Dip the fingers in salt and remove the black skin, hut only scrape the lighter one without tearing or bruising it ; clean the fish well and cut off the head. If the hone has to be removed split the sole down the middle as if to fillet it, lift up the flesh, and take out the bone carefully. The usual ways of preparing this fish are boiling and frying, but the latter is the favourite. The Driessauces are specially suitable for serving fish au gratin, etc. Trout (Plain Boiled). — When the fish is cleaned and washed, pour over it a little boiling vinegar, then put it into a kettle containing sufficient boiling salted water to cover it, put the fish into this with a dozen small onions, a few cloves, and two or three slices of lemon. When tender, serve hot with plain butter melted and a sprinkling of fines herbex, or cold with a remoulade, or a mayonnaise, or other sauce piquante. Trout (with Wine Sauce). — To every pound of trout allow a good half-pint of ordinary red wine ; put the fish in the kettle with a small handful of eschalots, salt, pepper, a blade of mace, and a handful of parsley tied in a bunch. Add the wine, and let this boil for at least fifteen minutes ; meantime have ready a piece of fresh butter mixed with a tablespoonful of flour, well heated in another saucepan ; into this gradually stir the liquor in which the fish has boiled with all its adjuncts; dish up the fish, and when the sauce has boiled and slightly thickened pour it over the tish through a strainer. Trout (Grilled). — Large fish are the best for this recipe. Make two or three slits with a knife crosswise on both sides of the body of the trout, rub them over with a little salt, dip them in good salad oil and partly grill them ; dip them again in the oil and grill them a good colour. Serve with fried parsley. Trout (Fried). — Small fish are most suitable for this process. Wash and dry them thoroughly ; dip them in flour and fry them a golden brown. Serve plain, or with a sauce tartare. Cod (with Cream Sauce).— After the fish has been boiled put it on a board, remove the skin and large bones, and keep it very hot. Brown in a saucepan a piece of butter, into which stir two tablespoonfuls of flour ; stir in sufficient seasoning, one sardine skinned and pounded, and a tablespoonful of mustard, and when these ingredients are thoroughly smooth add a cupful of thick sour milk (or a little cream) and pour it boiling over the fish. Sole au Gratin.— Put into a well-buttered fireproof dish of suitable size a thick layer of breadcrumbs, mix together a small tumbler of French white cooking wine and stock respectively, season with salt and pepper, and pour half of it over the breadcrumbs ; lay the sole on this, moisten with the remainder of the wine, etc., add two tablespoonfuls of good meat gravy, a slight sprinkling of breadcrumbs, and lay two or three tiny pieces of butter on the top. Bake npKEP.v. in the oven for twenty minutes ; or fillet the sole, butter ai dish, sprinkle it with breadcrumbs and put in the fish, prepare a sauce Italienne with the Driessauce (dark) according to the instructions on the jar, pour it over the fish and bake for twenty minutes.