German cookery for the English kitchen

Mix the butter and flour together to a stiff paste. Place little lumps of this paste in a stewpan with the parsley root (cut in two), an onion, and some of the chopped parsley and dill. On this place the fish, which has been well cleaned, cut into medium-sized pieces and rubbed over with salt, and cover the fish with the remainder of the paste, in little lumps, and a little more of the dill and parsley. Pour over this the cream and cover the stewpan tightly. Place the pan in a larger saucepan, in which there is sufficient boiling water to come to the top of the contents in the inner pan. Cover this outer saucepan tightly, so that no steam may escape, and keep the water boiling for 25 to 30 minutes. Then take out the inner stewpan and put it directly on the fire, so that the fish comes just to the boil. Then add the remainder of the chopped parsley and dill. Before serving, remove the parsley root and the onion. Fish. 29 Fische auf einfache Art gekocht. (Fish—Plain boiled.) Fisehblau. (Fish prbparbd to appear Blub.) The most suitable fish to be prepared in this manner are Carp, tench, bream, trout, eel, and salmon. To prepare a fish so that when boiled it appears bluish, do not scrape off the scales when cleaning, and pour over it dilute hot vinegar, leaving it then exposed to the air for a while. The blue colour is produced by the action of the vinegar and air on the colouring matter of the skin. After this treatment, put the fish on in cold salt water, allowing about 2 oz. salt to every quart of water, and adding some peppercorns, onions and soup herbs (carrots, parsley root, celery, etc.). It is advisable to boil the onions and soup herbs previously in a little water for half an hour and to add the broth so obtained to the water in which the fish is boiled, as it takes longer to extract the goodness out of the vegetables by boiling than to boil die fish. Fish boiled whole should be tied to the drainer of the fish-kettle. Large fish must be brought slowly to the boil, small fish quickly, the lid being kept on the fish-kettle. The fish should then be placed a little on one side and allowed to simmer quite gently till done. Then dash a little cold water over it and let it remain a few minutes longer in the kettle before serving. To ascertain whether the fish is done, insert a larding needle carefully into the middle of the back. If the flesh is readily lifteci from the backbone, then the fish is done. Lift out the drainer with the fish on it, allow the water to strain off thoroughly, remove quickly the thread which has kept the fish in place, and slide the latter on to a dish, which may, or may not, be covered with a 30 Fische. serviette. Garnish with parsley and small boiled potatoes. Serve with brown butter sauce (with or without German mustard), or merely oiled butter, or Dutch, Mushroom, Caviar, or Oyster Sauce. Mayonnaise or Remouladen Sauce may also be taken. (See section "Sauces" for the various recipes.)) Every kind of fish can be boiled in this manner, without being rendered bluish, the fish being merely thoroughly cleaned and the scales removed. Laohsblau. (Boiled Salmon.) Clean and wash the salmon, leaving the scales on, however, if the fish is to appear bluish. In this case pour over it a little dilute boiling vinegar, then let it stand a few minutes and tie it on to the drainer, placing latter into the fish-kettle. Pour over it sufficient cold water, strongly salted (2 oz. to the quart) to cover the fish well. Add plenty of onions, carrots, turnips, parsley root, and celery and half a gill of Tarragon vinegar. Bring slowly to the boil, covered, and then stand on one side to simmer very gently i to | hour, according to size of the fish. (See last recipe for ascertaining when a fish is sufficiently boiled for serving.) When done, leave in the fish-kettle for another quarter of an hour.