The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf

They must be thoroughly cleaned, boned and trimmed. To open, they should be soaked in cold water for a couple of hours, taken out and dried on a cloth, and the backs divided by the points of the two thumbs, rather than with a knife, which should never touch them unless it is electro-plated or of silver. Lay the halves neatly on a dish, and garnish with finely chopped white of egg and parsley ; pour salad oil over all. Stuffed Anchovies. Split open some anchovies, wash them well in white wine and bone them. Mince a little cooked fish of any kind, place in a basin with very fine breadcrumbs, and make it into a paste by adding yolk of eggs. Stuff the anchovies with this mixture, dip into frying batter, plunge into a fryingpan of boiling fat and fry to a light color. Take out when done, drain and arrange on the dish, and serve with a garnish of fried parsley. Anchovies with Olives. Thoroughly wash and cut off the fillets of some anchovies, and chop them up very fine with a little parsley and onion ; put the whole into a mortar and pound it well, adding a little cayenne for seasoning. Cut a number of Spanish olives in halves, take out the stones, and fill them with the pounded anchovy mixture. In the mean- time cut some small rounds of bread about an inch in thickness and an inch and a half in diameter, scrape out a little from the center of each, put them into a fryingpan with butter, and fry to a nice light golden color ; then take out and drain, and arrange on a napkin spread over a dish ; put an olive in each, serve with a little mayonnaise sauce poured over and around the foot of the croutons of fried bread. Baked Bass^ Plain. Scale, wash and thoroughly clean a bass, leaving the head intact, if to be sent to table whole ; then make a stuffing of two cupfuls of breadcrumbsi one teacupful of butter, the rind of a quarter of a lemon minced fine, and two or three sprigs of parsley, green thyme and marjoram. Season this mixture with pepper and salt. Beat up a couple of eggs, a very little water, and mix the stuffing with it. Fill into the fish and sew up when stuffed. Score both sides with a sharp knife by cutting down to the bone, and put a slice of salt pork, cut thin, into each incision ; then bake in a pan and baste with stock and seasoning. Place a little tomato purée or tomato sauce into the pan with the gravy, after removing the fish, and allow it to come to a boil ; then skim and strain and serve in a tureen with the fish. Care should be taken not to break the fish when transferring it from the pan to the dish. Some consider a glass of white wine added to each half pint of sauce an improvement Boiled Bass. Dress a bass, wash well and drain it, and place in a saucepan of warm water, salted, and set over the fire. When the water boils remove to one side, and simmer gently for twenty minutes, by which time the fish should be quite done. Let it remain in the liquor until wanted, then take out, drain and place on a napkin spread over a dish, garnish with boiled potatoes and sprigs of parsley and serve. Broiled Bass. Clean a bass, split it lengthwise in halves, cutting each half again into two or three pieces ; sprinkle over with flour and place on a gridiron over a slow fire, broiling them very gently, brush over continually with butter to prevent burning. When of a light brown color, place the pieces of fish on a napkin spread over a dish and serve. Fried Bass with Bacon. Wash, scale and carefully clean the bass, season well with pepper and salt, roll them in flour and let them lie in it until ready to be cooked, then drop into a pan of very hot lard and fry until nicely browned. Then fry in a separate pan four slices of streaky bacon ; one piece for each piece of the fish and lay the slices of bacon one on each piece of fish. Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes. Fried Black Bass.