The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

able to turn out the whole jar of anchovies into a basin, letting the anchovies slide out of their own accord. When cooks stick a fork into the fish and pull them out, they are apt to break, and when they are required to be cut into thin strips, which is often necessary, this entails waste. After selecting the number required, the remainder can be replaced in the jar, the whole of the brine poured back, and the bottle replaced, after seeing that the brine covers the fish, as otherwise they would soon get bad and have to be thrown away. Next take the fish and wash them carefully in fresh water. Do not rub off the silver scales more than you can help, but wash away all the brine, the lumps of salt, and also the soft pappy part, which is not nice. You will find near the breast of the fish some soft part something like the soft row of herrings ; this should all be washed away ; also use. several waters. Then take the fish and dry them on a cloth, and open them up along the bone, using the fingers, so that they lie open from head to tail. Some- ' times you will want a knife, but as a rule the fingers are best. Then take the. bone at the tail end with the fin of the tail sticking to it, and with the fingers or a blunt knife pull away the flesh from the bone, which must be thrown away. Remember also to remove the little fins. Each anchovy will always make two fillets, and these fillets can, until care and a sharp knife, be again cut in two and sometimes three thin strips, according to what they are intended for. Some cooks wash the fillets after boning the anchovy, but this is a mistake. It tends to lose the flavour. Having now filleted the anchovies I will describe a few of the many purposes for which they may be used, and one of the most common is that known as — ANCHOVIES ON TOAST.— The ordinary receipt is to make some hotbuttered toast, cut it into strips, put the fillets on the strips, put it in the oven till the anchovy gets hot, and then send it to table. There is, however, a far better method than this. Hot buttered toast is never so good as when fresh made. Also the anchovy in the oven is apt to get dry. Act accordingly as follows : Get a little pie-dish — a very small one will do, or even a saucer. HO US EK EEP HR'S G UIDE. Fillet the anchovies — each anchovy will make two fillets only for anchovies on toast. Melt enough butter in the dish to cover the anchovies, and make the anchovies hot in the butter in the oven. How often the anchovies on toast are dry. Then make your buttered toast, cut it after being well buttered on both sides into thin strips, and take the fillet of anchovy out of the hot butter and put it on the strip of toast. Half a minute in the oven and the dish is ready. If you wish to get anchovies on toast to perfection, like what you would get at the Freemasons’ Tavern, this is the method to pursue. Some few years back the great chef dc cuisine was the late Mr. Charles Dime Francatelli, formerly chef to Her Majesty the Queen. In his book on cooking, entitled ‘ ‘ The Modem Cook,” he gives the following receipt for —