French dishes for American tables

126. Weak-Fish, Italian Sauce. Cut a weakfish of four pounds in fillets, as described in the foregoing, and place them in a saucepan with a little melted butter, salt, pepper, a little nutmeg, and two tablespoonfuls of madeira (or sherry). Simmer gently for twenty minutes, arrange your fish neatly on a dish, one piece overlapping the other, and serve with an Italian sauce (Art. 93). 127. Chicken Halibut aux Fines Herbes. Chop a little parsley, six mushrooms, and a shallot ; add to them a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and place all together in a saucepan on the fire for five minutes, with half a pint of white wine. Then put these ingredients on a dish, and place on top of them four pounds of chicken halibut. Send to a moderate oven for about thirty minutes, taking care from time to time to pour with a spoon some of the liquid in the dish over your fish. Put half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80) in another saucepan on the fire, reduce your sauce for about seven or eight minutes, adding the juice of a lemon, and serve it around your fish. 128. Eels a la Tartare. Broil your eels on a gridiron. When the skin detaches itself on one side, turn them on the other. When done, with a napkin take off all the skin, cut the eels in pieces three inches long, remove the insides, and put the eels in a saucepan with a little salt, pepper, six cloves, six pepper-corns, two parsley-roots, a little thyme, four bay-leaves, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Add enough water to cover your eels, and, after boiling fifteen minutes, take them off the fire, let them cool in the liquid in which they were cooked, and then wipe them dry with a cloth. Break in a bowl two eggs, which mix thoroughly with half an ounce of melted butter ; pour this over your fish, and sprinkle lightly with bread-crumbs. Broil them on a very gentle fire. When they are a nice brown, serve them with a sauce Tartare (Art. 114). 129. King-Fish, Sherry Sauce. Clean four medium-sized king-fish, split them in two, and broil them on a gentle fire. Put half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80) in a saucepan, add a wineglass of sherry, boil fifteen minutes, pour it around your fish, and serve. 5° 130. Fillet of Shad, with Puree of Sorrel. After cleaning your shad, cut it in equal pieces, leaving the skin underneath. Put them on a plate, and sprinkle a little salt on them, add the juice of a lemon, and a few branches of parsley. A few moments before they are required to be served put them in a saucepan on a gentle fire for fifteen minutes, with a glass of white wine and an ounce of butter. Pick and clean a quart of sorrel, which blanch in boiling water, drain, and press it through a sieve. Put an ounce of butter in a saucepan with half an ounce of flour, a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and, when beginning to color slightly, add your puree of sorrel and half a glass of cream. Simmer gently ten minutes, when add the yolks of two eggs which you have mixed in a little milk. Boil five minutes longer, pour over your fish, and serve.