cook with only the liver remaining within it. The Fish was to be cooked at once, and on no account to be soaked in cold water. The speedy cleaning obviates the muddy or weedy taste which is due to the food which the Fish has lately been enjoying. Perch and Tench should be filleted, as this method removes many of their troublesome bones. Of course all bones and trimmings must be kept to make the fish broth in which the fillets are subsequently cooked. This broth, with scraped horseradish and chopped parsley, will also make the sauce. A Jack is a small Pike, and both Jack and Pike should be stuffed. Boiling spoils them: if under four pounds’ weight they should be baked ; if heavier, they should be roasted in the Dutch oven. The amount of stuffing must of course be regulated by the size of the Fish. The simplest stuffing is made of crumbs bound with egg, moistened with suet and seasoned with herbs. See that the Jack is clean and quite dry inside, and calculate what quantity of crumbs will be necessary to fill the cavity without cramming it. Then put the crumbs in a basin, add as many eggs as will bind them thoroughly, allow a teaspoonful of thyme and the same of marjoram to three ounces of crumbs, add salt and pepper in proportion, and allow enough finely minced suet to represent one quarter of the whole mixture. Blend all together, put it into the Jack, and sew up the cavity. Put the Jack into a well -buttered baking-dish. The Fish can be coiled round as Izaak W alton advises, “ with the spit through his mouth and out at his tail,” or, as in these days, with the tail fastened to the mouth. A Jack will take twenty minutes to bake. It must be moistened two inches deep with a fish broth made of other Freshwater Fish, and must be continually basted with the same. The broth should be strong, and can be made of any Freshwater Fish ; even dace can be used for it. About a pint and a half of broth will be wanted, and an onion and some herbs should be simmered in it. A baked Jack✪ Baked Jack is best served on the fire-proof dish in which it has been cooked. Eels. — Sir Henry Thompson and other authorities attach great value to the nutritive properties of Eels. Eels should be killed by a heavy blow on the back of the head, and the head should then be at once cut off. It is neces- sary to skin them after death, as Eels are covered with an oily 104 POND FISH substance between the skin and the flesh. The skinning is easily managed by turning the skin of the Eel down after the head is cut off and drawing the skin off like a stocking. Then clean the Eel thoroughly, wipe the inside well, blanch it in boiling water for five minutes, and remove the oily coating with a clean cloth. As Eels are rich it is better to cook them as simply as possible. They should be divided into fillets, and the fillets simmered in fish broth, rolled in oatmeal or flour, and fried a golden-brown ; or wrapped in buttered paper and broiled on a gridiron. Tartare sauce should be served with Eels.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

cook with only the liver remaining within it. The Fish was to be cooked at once, and on no account to be soaked in cold water. The speedy cleaning obviates the muddy or weedy taste which is due to the food which the Fish has lately been enjoying. Perch and Tench should be filleted, as this method removes many of their troublesome bones. Of course all bones and trimmings must be kept to make the fish broth in which the fillets are subsequently cooked. This broth, with scraped horseradish and chopped parsley, will also make the sauce. A Jack is a small Pike, and both Jack and Pike should be stuffed. Boiling spoils them: if under four pounds’ weight they should be baked ; if heavier, they should be roasted in the Dutch oven. The amount of stuffing must of course be regulated by the size of the Fish. The simplest stuffing is made of crumbs bound with egg, moistened with suet and seasoned with herbs. See that the Jack is clean and quite dry inside, and calculate what quantity of crumbs will be necessary to fill the cavity without cramming it. Then put the crumbs in a basin, add as many eggs as will bind them thoroughly, allow a teaspoonful of thyme and the same of marjoram to three ounces of crumbs, add salt and pepper in proportion, and allow enough finely minced suet to represent one quarter of the whole mixture. Blend all together, put it into the Jack, and sew up the cavity. Put the Jack into a well-buttered baking-dish. The Fish can be coiled round as Izaak Walton advises, “ with the spit through his mouth and out at his tail,” or, as in these days, with the tail fastened to the mouth. A Jack will take twenty minutes to bake. It must be moistened two inches deep with a fish broth made of other Freshwater Fish, and must be continually basted with the same. The broth should be strong, and can be made of any Freshwater Fish ; even dace can be used for it. About a pint and a half of broth will be wanted, and an onion and some herbs should be simmered in it. A baked Jack is best served on the fire-proof dish in which it has been cooked. Eels. — Sir Henry Thompson and other authorities attach great value to the nutritive properties of Eels. Eels should be killed by a heavy blow on the back of the head, and the head should then be at once cut off. It is necessary to skin them after death, as Eels are covered with an oily substance between the skin and the flesh. The skinning is easily managed by turning the skin of the Eel down after the head is cut off and drawing the skin off like a stocking. Then clean the Eel thoroughly, wipe the inside well, blanch it in boiling water for five minutes, and remove the oily coating with a clean cloth. As Eels are rich it is better to cook them as simply as possible. They should be divided into fillets, and the fillets simmered in fish broth, rolled in oatmeal or flour, and fried a golden-brown ; or wrapped in buttered paper and broiled on a gridiron. Tartare sauce should be served with Eels.

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Baked Jack

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book