The "Queen" cookery books: Breakfast and Lunch Dishes

Fish d VOrlie. — Flake any nice firm cold fish (previously freed from skin and bone), fresh or smoked haddock or salmon being particularly good, into rather large flakes ; season with pepper, salt, and a Kttle lemon juice, dip each piece into good and rather thick batter, and fry in plenty of hot fat. drain well, and serve either plain with fried parsley or with tomato sauce. Another version of this dish is known as Mock Whitebait. Lift the flesh free from the bones (use a sole for choice) and cut it into tiny strips about the size of a fairly large whitebait, toss these strips in a floured cloth till nicely and lightly coated, and fry them, a few at a time, in plenty of hot fat in a frying basket till they turn colour; now drain them for a minute over the pan, then turn them out to drain on the kitchen paper in front of the fire. When all have been cooked thus, sprinkle them with salt and coralline pepper (some cooks also use cuiTy powder for this), and serve very hot with a quartered lemon and brown bread and butter. If cooked fish are used they will take but a minute or so to colour in the fat, which should be pretty hot ; but if raw fish be preferred, put them into the frying kettle just as the fat begins to smoke, as they will take eight to ten minutes to cook properly. Fish Gurry. — Prepare a good curry sauce, and wlieii ready lay in the fish flaked as before and one or more hard-boiled eggs (according to the size of the dish), sliced or quartered, and let them steep in the sauce at the side of the fire till quite hot without actually cooking; serve with a wall of boiled rice round them. You will need about half a pint of curry sauce for each 6oz. to 8oz. of fish. Or : Melt |oz. of butter over a slow fire, and in this fry a dessertspoonful of finely minced shallot or onion till of a pale golden brown, then add about a dessertspoonful of curry powder and a small teaspoonful each of curry paste and freshly grated cocoanut, and stir it all over the fire for four or five minutes ; now stir in about one and a half tablespoonfuls each of tamarind water and cocoanut milk, and the fish flaked small, allowing about six good tablespoonfuls of fish to this sauce, and let it all fiy very gently together till the liquid is pretty well absorbed and the fish nearly dry and powdery, stirring it all well together to prevent burning. Then serve piled on a hot dish, or in little shells or cases. About a heaped-up spoonful of the flaked fish is used for each person, and the above quantities will fill five or six small cases. Groutes de Poisson, or Fish Toasts. — These are very easy to prepare, thus : Flake the fish small, season with pepper (white and red), salt if required, and minced parsley, put this into a pan with a piece of butter proportioned to the amount of fish (say |oz. for 3oz. or 4oz. of fish), and stir it over the fire, moistening it from time to time with lemon