Cookery for busy lives and small incomes

and stir gently for ten minutes, then stir in a thickening of flour and a little dripping. When the flour is well cooked put the mussels on a hot dish with toast or rice round them. Scallops Open the scallops, trim off the black part, remove them from the shells, wash and dry them, scrub the deep shells, dry them well, grease them with a little butter or dripping, lay in the scallops — three scallops in a shell — cover with bread crumbs, put little bits of butter or dripping about them, and heat them through in an ordinary oven or a Dutch oven, browning them slightly. Vinegar should be .served with them. FRESH-WATER FISH— Eels Eels are best fried or stewed. For stewing eels follow the directions for stewed conger eel. When mushrooms are plentiful they make a nice addition. Carp Take the gall-stone out of the skull, or it will give a bitter taste to the fish. It may be stuffed and baked (see cod), or it may be stewed as directed for conger eel. Tench, Pike, Barbel, Roach, Dace, Perch, and Trout Cook these in any way suitable for other fish. Fish Pudding Ingredients. — Fish and potatoes — double the quantity of potatoes that there is fish — dripping, pepper and salt. Method. — The fish must be boiled. It is best to use up cold cooked fish in this manner. Break it into flakes and take away the bone. Mash up the potatoes, add the fish with some dripping, and if you have it, a little milk, and pepper and salt. Take a dish that will stand the heat of the oven. Put the potato and fish on it, and heap up roughly, and mould into the shape of a fish. Put in the oven to heat through. If more convenient, put the mixture in a pie dish and smooth it over. General Directions for Cooking Green Vegetables Put all vegetables into boiling water, to which salt is added in the proportion of one tablespoonful to every two quarts of water. If the water is hard, add a small piece of soda, but not too much, or the colour will be preserved at the expense of the flavour of the vegetables. Boil the vegetables with the lid off the saucepan, the steam will discolour them if kept in, and remove all scum from the surface of the water. Remove them from the water directly they are cooked, and drain well. To Boil Potatoes Choose those of the same size, so far as it is possible, scrub them, and peel them thinly, put them into a saucepan with enough boiling water to cover them, add salt, and boil gently until the potatoes are nearly tender, but not quite. Pour the water away and cover the potatoes with a cloth, and place them by the side of the fire to finish cooking in their own steam. If these directions are carefully followed, and the potatoes are good, they will be perfectly dry and floury. Potatoes are better cooked in their skins. Cook them in the same way, draining away the water when nearly tender. Then peel them and finish as directed above. Steamed Potatoes