Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Sole au Four, or Sole from the Dutch Oven. — Remove the dark skin from the underpart of the Sole, and on that side make an incision a quarter of an inch deep down each side of the backbone. With a pair of scissors trim off the small bones all round the lish, flour it, and egg and breadcrumb it. Do this once, and let the Sole dry. Then place it in a wellbuttered fire-proof dish and cook it in the Dutch oven, basting it well with the butter. Serve in the same dish. Add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and the squeeze of a lemon to the butter, and pour over the fish. Baked Sole, or Sole au Gratin.— Butter a flat gratin dish, sprinkle it with minced parsley, lay the Sole on this, and moisten the upper side with melted butter. Bake for eight minutes in the oven, then turn the Sole, baste again with butter, and six minutes afterwards it will be done. Lift the Sole with a slice on to a very hot dish. Add to the butter in the gratin dish a tablespoonful of minced parsley and the juice of a lemon, pour this over the Sole, and serve at once. \Wyvern.~] In all cases where butter is used in cooking fish great care must be taken to have everything as hot as possible, in order to prevent greasiness. Plaice. — Plaice is a tasteless fish, and generally served in fillets. Cream of Plaice is a better way. For this, take eight ounces of Plaice without bones or skin. Pound in a mortar, adding two ounces of panada and two of butter. Pass it through a hair-sieve, adding a tablespoonful of cream, two whole eggs, and the yolk of a third. When well mixed put it in a well-buttered half-pint mould, cover it with a buttered paper, and steam for an hour, or until done. Turn the cream out, and serve with shrimp sauce. Plaice is in season except in February, March, and April, but it is at its best in May. Flounders. — Flounders, or Flukes, as they are called in the North of England, are a small flat fish, caught in abundance in Lancashire, and on other sandy coasts. They are generally used as water souchy with other fish, but Flounders are excellent fried, and served with quarters of lemon and beurre fondu. They are not in season in May, June, and July. Skate. — Skate is rather a coarse fish, weighing from five to forty pounds, but when quite fresh it is not unpalatable. The cut chosen must be carefully skinned, and laid in marinade. It should then be steamed, and served either with cold tartare sauce, or with a sharp, hot sauce called Black Butter. To make SKATE this, put two ounces of butter in a stewpan, let it brown slightly, but do not let it burn. Take it off the fire, and let it cool. Put two tablespoonfuls of Fi’ench vinegar into another stewpan, and x'educe it to half. Strain the butter into it, add pepper and salt, and make the sauce as hot as you can without boiling. This sauce is generally poured over the piece of Skate. Skate is a winter fish, in season from October to May.