The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf

Free some cold boiled mackerel from skin and bones, flake the flesh with two forks, and pile the flakes onto a dish. Prepare a thick mayonnaise sauce, and mix it with plenty of chopped parsley previously scalded. Pour the sauce over the mackerel, garnish it with sprigs of parsley and fennel, and young crayfish, placing one on the mackerel, and serve. Prawns in Aspic. Place in the bottom of a mould packed in ice, a little slightly warmed aspic jelly, decorate it with a little lobster coral, chopped white of hard-boiled eggs rubbed through a sieve and cover this over with some more of the jelly and prawns and fill up the mould with the jelly. When it has become firmly set, turn out onto a dish, garnish with wedge-shaped croutons of aspic jelly and small quantities of lettuce finely-chopped, surmounted by prawns in their shells. Bouchees of Sardines. Pound one or two boned sardines in a mortar, together with a small quantity of cheese, and add salt, pepper and chili vinegar until the mixture has the taste and appearance of dressed crab. Mix in a few chopped oysters ; put the mixture into small cases of bread fried in butter, and garnish with hard boiled yolk of egg rubbed through a sieve and mixed with finely-chopped parsley. Arrange these bouchees on a napkin on a dish, and serve. Canapes. Cut several thin slices of bread, remove the crusts and toast them till they are of an even brown. Butter slightly and spread with any kind of potted meat or 6sh. Put two slices together, and cut them in long strips. They afford a tasty dish for tea or supper parties. Potted Mackerel. Clean the mackerel well, dry it, season to taste with pepper and salt, place it in a baking-dish with mixed spice, a couple of bay leaves and a little butter ; bake it in the oven, and when sufficiently done take it out and allow it to cool, Then bone and lay the meat in pots, and pour over enough melted butter to cover. Canapes of Caviar. Cut three or four slices of bread about one-fourth inch in thickness, and then cut them up into round pieces with a biscuit cutter, of about two inches in diameter. Put these into a pan with a small piece of butter, and fry to a light brown color. When done, spread on the rounds a layer of caviar, and serve them on a dish covered with a napkin or ornamental dish-paper. Cheese Canapes. Cut a few pieces of bread into slices a quarter of an inch thick, trim off the crusts, and then cut them up one inch wide and three inches long; fry these a delicate brown in clarified butter; grate a little cheese over them, sprinkle on the tops a little cayenne pepper and salt, and put them in the oven until the cheese has melted. Serve while hot. A fillet of anchovy shredded into two laid lengthwise on these canapes are an improvement, and they may be eaten cold with salad. They may also be garnished with finely chopped parsley. Canapes of Crab Take six slices of bread, cut off the crusts, and fry the slices to a light brown with a pat of butter. Take the lower shell from a few crabs, and pick out the meat from the body and claws; place the meat on a plate, season with salt and pepper, and mince up well. Put one ounce of butter in a saucepan with a chopped onion, cook for a few minutes, but do not let the onion brown. Stir in two tablespoonfuls of flour, then one gill of broth, add the crab meat, cook and continue stirring for fifteen minutes. Have a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan on a hot stove, mix in one tablespoonful of flour, and cook slowly for three minutes; add two ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, and the same quantity of grated Gruyere; stir together and turn into a basin to cool. Spread a layer of the forcemeat on each slice of toast.