The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf

Scale and empty a pike, wash it thoroughly, bind its head up, put it in a fish kettle and cover «'ith a fish stock, made with red wine; add two or three bay leaves and boil slowly till tender. Leave the pike in the sauce till the following day. When ready to serve drain the fish, put it on a folded napkin or ornamental dish-paper, garnish with fresh parsley and serve with oil and vinegar. Broiled Pompano. Thoroughly scrape and clean a Pompano, and if it is a large one, divide it down the back and through the head; but if it be a small fish, weighing only about a pound, it may be cooked whole; sprinkle over salt and pepper, and place it on a gridiron over a clear fire, with the skin side downward, and after warming a little, brush it over with butter, adding a little more salt and pepper if desired, and return it to the gridiron to broil on both sides until done, when it may be placed on a dish, a little lemon juice squeezed over it, and served with tartar sauce, either poured over or served separately in a sauceboat. Baked Salmon with Cream Sauce. Take a middle cut of salmon; butter a large sheet of white paper and wrap the salmon in it, pinning the ends firmly together. Melt four ounces of butter by mixing with it three tablespoonfuls of boiling water. Lay the fish, wrapped in paper, in a bakingpan and pour over the butter and water. Cover and place it in a moderate oven for an hour, lifting up the cover now and then to see that the paper is not burning. Boil one-half pint of cream, thickened with one heaping tablespoonful of corn starch; add to this one ounce of butter, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and a small quantity each of pepper and salt. When the salmon is taken out of the paper and dished, pour half of the sauce over it and serve the balance in a sauceboaL Boiled Salmon. Take a piece of the tail of a fresh salmon, put it into a fishkettle with some salt, fennel and spices in moderate quantities, one-half teacupful of vinegar, and sufficient boiling water to cover. Boil the fish until tender. Prepare a sauce with one pint of the cooking liquor of the fish, one wineglassful of white wine, two finely minced anchovies, and boil it until somewhat reduced; then mix with the sauce one ounce of the butter broken up into small pieces. Lay the salmon on a hot dish that has been covered with a folded napkin or napkins, garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve with the sauce in a sauceboat. Boiled Salmon with Oyster Sauce. Put two pounds of very fresh salmon in a fishkettle, completely cover it with cold water, season with a handful of salt, add one medium-sized onion, one-half wineglassful of white wine vinegar, eight or ten whole peppers, two cloves and two parsley roots. Place the kettle over a brisk fire, and five minutes after coming to the boil the salmon will be sufficiently cooked. Remove the fish from the kettle, drain it well, dress it on a hot dish with a folded napkin, decorate with sprigs of parsley all round the salmon, and serve with one pint of hot oyster sauce in a sauce-boat. The necessary time to cook the above perfectly, from beginning to end, will be about thirty-five minutes. Colbert sauce and cold boiled potatoes, cut into quarters, may be substituted for the oyster sauce and parsley, Boiled Slices of Salmon with Piquant Sauce.