Paper-bag cookery

Turbot or Flounder. — The whole fish (or part) can be done in the same way. A pound, to a pound and a-half will take 20 minutes to cook. A turbot of 7 lbs. will take 45 minutes. It can be cooked with or without garnish, with butter or quite plain. Season your fish with salt and pepper and the juice of one lemon; but this can be omitted if desired. Place in the paper-bag, seal up, place on broiler, and put in hot oven. Whitefish la Normande. — Place two skinned whitefish in a buttered bag. Place half-a-dozen bearded oysters between them, and add half-a-dozen sliced mushrooms. Mix 2 ozs. of butter with a large teaspoonful of flour, add a few shelled shrimps and a little anchovy paste. Place on the whitefish. Pour in two tablespoonfuls of white wine. Seal up in bag and cook for 15 minutes. After placing the fish on a dish, squeeze a little lemon juice over it. Note. — Clean the mushrooms first with a bit of flannel and a little salt. Whitefish Fines Herbes. — Take two whitefish of fair size, get the fishmonger to bone them. Fill the cavity with half-a-teaspoonful of mixed finely minced chives or shallot and parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice. Put into a well-greased bag, and bake for 25 minutes. Then dish up on a very hot dish, pour the liquor from the fish into the center of each, and serve at once. Haddock and fresh herrings are also excellent when cooked in this way. Trout k la Soyer. — Take a nice trout from y2 lb. to 2 lb. in weight. Clean and trim well. Then cut on each side about eight or ten incisions. Season well with salt and pepper, according to taste. Take 2 oz. of butter, half a teaspoonful of anchovy paste or sauce. Rub half a shallot on a cold plate and throw the shallot away. Mix a teaspoonful of flour with the butter on the plate you have rubbed the shallot. Add a large teaspoonful of capers (if at hand). Place your trout in a well-buttered paper-bag with all the ingredients. Have ready half a cucumber blanched in boiling water for 6 minutes and cut up in small dice. Also two medium-sized carrots cooked in boiling water, salt, and a little sugar, cut small. Slice two large gherkins and 12 small, new cooked potatoes. Place all the above around the raw fish in the paper-bag, adding the juice of one lemon. Put one tablespoonful of melted butter over the vegetables, &c. Seal bag and place carefully on broiler. Allow for one trout, y2 lb., 20 minutes ; 1 lb., 25 minutes; 1 y2 lbs., 35 minutes; 2 lbs., 40 minutes — in hot oven. Any fish can be cooked in the same way by shortening or adding to the garnishing of the above recipe. Fresh mushrooms are always very welcome in cooking trout, salmon, turbot, sole, whitefish, halibut, eels, or any other kind of fish. This is a matter to be left to the taste of the cook. But never omit to mix up the flour with the cold fresh butter, to be laid well on the top of the fish. If you desire a sauce, put half a glass of claret with your fish in the paper-bag.