Cassell's dictionary of cookery

it, and boil it in water with salt and a little vinegar ; five minutes before it is done enough, put the liver in with it, and boil it also. Take up the fish, skin it on both sides, lay it on a hot dish, and keep it hot for a few minutes. Dissolve six ounces of fresh butter in a saucepan, and stir it over a brisk fire tiU it is brown without being burnt. Throw about fifty leaves of picked parsley into it, and when these are crisp pour the butter over the fish. Put a large wine-glassful of common vinegar into the saucepan with a little pepper and salt. Let it boil for half a minute, pour it all over the fish, and serve very hot. Time altogether, about half an hour. Sufficient for four or five persons. Skate, Black Butter for Boiled.— Place about six ounces of good fresh butter in a small stewpan ; put it on the fire to melt, and then allow it to fritter so as to acquire a light brown colour ; then take it off the stove, skim it, and pass it quickly through a sieve into a stewpan containing four table-spoonfuls of French vinegar, a dessert-spoonful of chopped capers, ditto Harvey's Sauce and mushroom ketchup, a piece of glaze the size of a walnut, and sufficient pepper and salt to season the sauce. Boil the whole well together, and use it for boiled skate or boiled mackerel. With whatever kind of fish this sauce is served, fried parsley foims an indispensable adjunct. — Francatelli. Skate, Boiled. — Let the skate hang a couple of days, then skin it, and cut it into pieces about four inches square — some cut out of the thick part, and some out of the thin. Tie the pieces with string to preserve the shape, and put first the thick pieces, and a couple of minutes afterwards the thin pieces, into a kettle with boiling water which has been prepared for the fish by the addition of a handful of salt, two SKA ( 880 ) SKA table-spoonfuls of vinegar, and a sliced onion, to a gallon of water. Boil the fish gently until done enough. The time required will depend upon the thickness. The liver, which is highly prized, should be boUed separately, and served at the side, or finely chopped and mixed with parsley and butter. Good melted butter flavoured with lemon-juice, caper sauce, shrimp sauce, or anchovy sauce, may aU be served with skate, or there may be a sauce prepared as follows: — Dissolve four ounces of butter ia a small saucepan, and stir in with it a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley and a table-spoonful of vinegar. Simmer three minutes, and serve. Time to boil the skate, fifteen to twenty minutes. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. per lb. Skate, Boiled in Stock.— Skin a skate, and cut it into square pieces. Take as much stock in which fish has been boiled, or veal stock, as will cover the fish, and simmer it gently for an hour with the trimmings of the fish, the shell of a lobster or crab thoroughly cleansed, a bunch of sweet herbs, and two or three sliced onions. Strain and thicken the stock with brown thickening, and add pepper and salt, a little ketchup and soy, and a glass of claret. Put in the skate, and boil it until done enough. Serve it with the sauce poured over. Time to boil the skate, fifteen to twenty minutes. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. per pound.