Choice cookery

each side, dust with salt and pepper, lay them in a buttered baking tin, pour round ½ pint white stock or water, cover with buttered paper, and bake 15 to 30 minutes according to size. Throw the spinach into some boiling water, containing a little salt and soda, boil until tender, drain, and rub through a wire sieve. Melt the butter in a pan, add salt, pepper, cayenne, spinach, and flour, stir until quite smooth, then add cream and stock from fish, boil five minutes, then add to yolks and tarragon. Lift the fish into a hot dish, and strain round the sauce, which should be a pale green shade. No. 35. WHITEBAIT. The whitebait should be quite fresh and kept on ice until required, then dry them well, and roll them in plenty of flour ; put a few at a time in a wire basket, immerse them in smoking hot fat, and fry two minutes or until crisp, shaking them occasionally ; pour on to soft paper and drain, sprinkle with a little salt and cayenne. Serve in a heap on a lace paper with brown bread and butter and cut lemons. No. 36. FILLET OF WHITING A LA PRINCESSE. 3 or 4 whiting 1 tablespoonful tarragon vinegar Salt and peppercorns 1 oz. butter 2 tablespoonfuls good stock 2 shallots 1 bay leaf Sprig of parsley A few drops of lemon juice Skin and fillet the whiting, sprinkle with salt and lemon juice, put the shallots and herbs at the bottom of a saucepan ; divide the fillets in half, or, if small, fold over in half ; lay these on vegetables, put the butter on top, pour round stock and vinegar, simmer slowly 15 minutes ; lift out and drain, dish round a dish, resting each fillet against the other ; pour over tomato sauce. (Page 119.) No. 37. WHITING (Fried). Skin the whiting, remove the gills and the eyes, dry them thoroughly and draw their tails through the eyes ; roll in flour, and brush over with egg; put into a basket, and put into enough smoking hot lard or fat to cover ; fry gently 5 minutes, and a nice brown ; drain on soft paper ; dish in a ring on a lace paper or serviette, and garnish with parsley, fried (page 119); serve with parsley or Dutch sauce. (Page 116.) ENTREES. No. 38. FILET DE BCEUF A LA ROSSINE. 1 lb. mashed potatoes 1 egg £ pint brown stock | oz. glaze 1 teaspoonful flour 1| oz. butter £ lb. mushrooms Pepper and salt l£ lbs. beef, undercut Mix the potatoes with half the egg, |oz. butter, pepper, and salt ; form a round cake about 7 inches in diameter, and 1 inch thick, with a pyramid in the centre ; put on to a baking sheet, paint over with the remainder of the egg ; bake half an hour, or until a nice brown ; divide the beef into neat fillets half an inch thick ; put the remainder of the butter into a saute or frying pan, and when hot fry the fillets very quickly, a nice brown on both sides ; remove from the pan, and keep hot ; put the flour into the pan, and brown; then add the stock and glaze, a little pepper and salt ; allow this to boil up; strain into a small pan, add the mushrooms, which must be peeled and the centres removed ; simmer slowly 10 minutes, remove the mushrooms, and boil the gravy quickly until reduced to about one third ; arrange the casserole of potatoes in the centre of the dish, and the fillets of beef on the potatoes round the pyramid ; put some of the mushrooms on a hatlet skewer, and stick in the middle of the potatoes, garnish the dish with the remainder ; strain the gravy over