The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf

Scale and clean the requisite number of black bass, roll well in flour, put in a fryingpan with hot fat to about half their height and fry until done. Place on a dish, garnish with potatoes, slices of lemon, parsley, and serve. Broiled Bloaters. Scrape and clean enough bloaters and wipe dry on a towel ; split down the belly from head to tail and lay them flat upon a buttered gridiron, over a clear fire, broiling for about six minutes, turning so as to cook both sides. When they are done, place them on a dish with a little butter over them and serve. Baked Bluefish, Italian Style. Score and scale the requisite amount of bluefish and place it in a buttered pan with half a wineglassful of white wine, three tablespoonfuls of mushroom liquor, and a little very finely chopped onion, six chopped mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper ; cover the dish with buttered paper and cook in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes, then remove and lay on a dish. Place the liquor in a stewpan, add a gill of Spanish sauce, with one wineglassful of white wine, and reduce for two minutes. Pour the sauce over the fish, with a little finely chopped parsley, and serve, with fancy croutons of bread. Bouillabaisse. Place a sufficient quantity of mixed fish, such as soles, whiting, gurnet and flounders into a saucepan, having cut them into pieces, and add some sliced onions, one or two sliced carrots, three shallots, two unpicked cloves of garlic, a bunch of thyme and parsley, five or six cloves, two bay-leaves, half a teaspoonful of capsicum, a little olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the above mixture a couple of quarts of water and boil gently for half an hour, the lid being placed on the pan. When sufficiently cooked drain the fish and arrange on a hot dish. Then mix a teaspoonful of saffron with the soup and pass through a pointed strainer into a soup-tureen. Serve the soup with the fish and a plate of croutons of fried bread or sippets of toast. Baked Carp. Clean a carp and place it in a bowl of salted cold water and vinegar to let it disgorge. Remove, drain and dry it, stuff with well-seasoned forcemeat, sew up the belly, brush it with egg, dredge breadcrumbs over and put on a few small lumps of butter here and there. Place the fish in a deep earthenware dish with two onions cut in slices and a few sweet herbs, pour over one breakfast cupful each of sweet wine and stock, mixing it with one teaspoonful of anchovy sauce or essence, put the dish in a so FISH. moderate oven and bake for an hour. Dress the carp carefully on a dish and keep it hot, then strain the liquor into a saucepan, add a lump of butter rolled in flour to thicken and stir continually over the fire until it is done ; then mix in half a teaspoonful of sugar, the juice of a lemon and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Pour this into a sauceboat and serve. Baked Carp, -Mariniere. Take a carp weighing from ten to twelve pounds, scale, draw it, and cut a little ofiF the fins and fill the inside with forcemeat. Remove a little of the skin from the back, leaving the flesh exposed, and lard this with fat bacon ; then truss the head ; place the fish on a drainer in a long fishkettle, season it and fill the kettle to about half the height of the fish with court bouillon and white wine in the proportion of one quart of the former to one-half pint of the latter. Place the kettle on the fire and let the liquid boil for five minutes ; then remove the carp and put it in a moderate oven to bake for about an hour and a half, basting it often. When done, take it out, drain, and pour its stock through a sieve, putting the fish back into the kettle again to keep hot.