Salads, sandwiches, and savouries

mustard, a dash of cayenne, a dessertspoonful of best vinegar, a small teacupful of pounded “ crackers ” (hard biscuits) or dried and sifted crumbs, and loz. of fresh butter, or two or three spoonfuls of thick cream ; stir this all over the fire till perfectly hot, when you pour the mixture into the well- washed and dried shells, strew the top with bread-crumbs, a very little minced parsley, and some morsels of butter, and set it in the oven, or in front of the fire to brown. Dressed Crah. — ‘Prepare some rich mayonnaise, flavouring this with shallot and chilli vinegar, with a rather stronger seasoning of cayenne than usual, and making it pretty thick. Now mix into it the sieved creamy part of the crab, and then the white flesh cut into dice. Turn this mixture into the wellwashed shell, and strew the top in lines with sieved and hard-boiled yolk and white of egg, and finely minced parsley, placing it when ready in the ice cave till perfectly cold. Serve garnished with the crab claws, and hand dry toast and butter, or brown bread and butter with it. The mayonnaise should be rather hotter than when served alone, or, if preferred, tomato mayonnaise or sauce tartare may be used with the crab. Iced Crab Soufflé. — Shred the flesh of one or more cooked crabs finely with two silver forks, then stir into it the creamy part of the inside, a good seasoning of coralline pepper, and, if liked, a dust of cayenne, and, lastly a full gill of rich tomato mayonnaise (for each fair- sized crab) ; now whip some just melted aspic to a very stiff froth, put a layer of this at the bottom of a papered souffle mould, put aside an equal quantity of the whipped aspic, and mix the rest with the prepared crab, fill up the mould with this, and finally pile the rest of the aspic on the top and set it all on ice or in the charged ice cave till thoroughly frozen. These may give some idea of the variety of savouries that may be prepared from fish, though naturally the list is more than imperfect. It is well to remember that home-potted fish (or, indeed, many other things) adds immensely to the number of savouries that may be prepared at little, if any, cost. For instance, pick the flesh free from skin and bones from two broiled fresh herrings, and pound it till smooth with a quarter part of its bulk of fresh butter and a seasoning of pepper (black and red), a very little salt, and an atom of mace. When perfectly smooth press it into pots, and if a little clarified butter is run over it, it will keep for some time. Any fish, especially kippers, bloaters, Finnon haddock, smoked or fresh salmon, or cod’s roe, lobster, Ac., may be prepared thus. Shrimps make particularly good paste, as do also canned lobster or salmon, especially if a little anchovy paste or a wellwashed and boned fillet or so of anchovy be pounded with every ;|lb. of fish. It is difficult to give exact quantities, as the mixture depends largely on personal taste. Bloater Grilled. — Split the fish and grill it over a clear fire, cooking the skin side first, and then the inside, for five to eight minutes, and serve dry or with a tiny pat of butter on it. G 2