European and American cuisine

Perch au Gratin. — Clean, wash, and dry the fish, lay in thickly buttered pan, season with salt, add 1 pint of white wine, cover with buttered paper, put the pan over the fire ; as soon as it boils set in the oven and baste frequently. Chop fine 2 onions, 6 mushrooms, and 1 tablespoonf ul chopped parsley, stew in 1 ounce butter 10 minutes ; put half of this in a round dish and lay the fish over it. Add to the remaining mushrooms and onions a few spoonfuls Spanish sauce and a little of the fish gravy ; pour it over the dish, cover with bread crumbs, pour a little melted butter over, and bake a few minutes in a hot oven ; then serve with Spanish sauce. Pike and other fish may be prepared in the same way. Fillets of Perch à la Joinville.— Clean, wash, dry, and skin the fish, remove the bones, cut the meat into small fillets, shape them, and put over one side a thin layer of fish forcemeat to which some fine herbes and fine-minced boiled beef's tongue have been added ; pack it even with a knife, lay the fish in a thickly buttered pan, and cover with a buttered paper. About 15 minutes before serving set the pan in a hot oven and bake until the fish is done. Arrange the fillets in a circle on a warm dish, pour in the center 1½ pint of boiled asparagus tops, pour over 1 pint of sauce velouté, and serve. Perch with Oysters,— Remove the skin and bones of a medium-sized perch, cut the meat into small fillets about 2Vg inches square, shape them nicely ; sprinkle with salt, dip in beaten egg and powdered cracker, and fry in butter light brown ; arrange on a dish in the form of a border, and pour in the center an oyster ragout Fillets of Perch Frité. — Have a good-sized perch cleaned and washed, remove skin and bones, cat the meat into small fillets about 2 inches square ; season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and set aside 20 minutes. Before serving wipe the fillets dry and roll in flour ; beat up 2 eggs, take each piece separately on a fork, dip in the egg and drop into boiling lard ; fry to a delicate brown. Lay them on blotting paper, and serve on a napkin with lobster or crab sauce. Sole, pike, weakfish, and flounders may be prepared in the same way. Perch à la Béchamel — Scale, clean, and wash a mediumsized fish, remove skin and bones, cut the meat into pieces about 2½ inches square, season with salt, and lay in a thickly buttered pan ; pour over the juice of 1 lemon and 2 ounces melted butter ; set in a hot oven to bake. As soon as done take them out ; add to the gravy 1 pint of bechamel sauce, boil until the sauce is somewhat thick ; beat up the yolks of 2 eggs with a little cream, and add to the sauce. Put a layer of fish forcemeat in a deep pie dish, bake it in the oven about 10 minutes ; lay half of the fish on to the forcemeat, pour some of the sance over, then the remaining half of the fish and some more sauce ; sprinkle thickly with grated Parmesan cheese, drop a little melted butter over, and bake in the oven until light brown ; then serve. Pike, weakfish, sole, or flounder can be prepared in the same way. PIKE. In season from September to April