The home cook book

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan or chafing-dish, and then stir in half a tablespoon of flour. After these are blended add gradually a cup of cream and see that it is well mixed in. When the cream is steaming and smooth stir in two pounds of lobster meat cut in small pieces, and when this is thoroughly heated through add a teaspoon of salt, quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne, and two tablespoons of sherry. Stir once more thoroughly, add the beaten yolks of two eggs, put in hot dish and serve immediately. BROILED SOFT-SHELL CRABS ON TOAST Choose crabs of good size, wash and clean them carefully. Then brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and lay over a hot fire on a broiler. Broil five minutes on one side, then turn and broil the other side five minutes. Have ready small pieces of white bread nicely browned and hot. Lay a ;crab on each piece of bread, and drop upon it a teaspoon of maitre d'hotel sauce and a silce of lemon. Serve hot and at once, CREAMED SHRIMPS Mince a small onion and brown it in a saucepan with two tablespoons of butter. Stir in three tablespoons of cold boiled rice, three tablespoons of cream, and a cup of fresh or canned shrimps. Cook a minute, add a dash of tomato catsup and a tablespoon of tomato sauce, stir in and serve hot. Buying Fish— Cooking— Baking — Boiling— Broiling— Planking— Accompanying Dishes — To Bake Fish— Bread Forcemeat for Baked Fish — Potato Forcemeat for Baked Fish —Veal Stuffing for Baked Fish— Baked Fish with Oyster Dressing— To Boil Fish- Sauce for Boiled Fish— To Broil Fish— Planked Fish— Scalloped Fish— Steamed Fish — Creamed Cod or Halibut — Creamed Frogs' Legs— Fried Frogs' Legs — Fried Filets of Halibut — Court Bouillon — Kegaree— Baked Mackerel — Mackerel with Vinegar— Fast-Day Pie — Cream Fast-Day Pie— Boiled Red Snapper— Fried Roe— Salmon Croquettes— Salmon with White Sauce— Cold Salmon with Vinegar— Fried Smelts —Fried Brook Trout BUYING FISH THERE is no better lesson on how to choose fish than this: if it is possible in your own neighborhood, or while vacationing in summer, go to see a fishing boat empty its gleaming cargo on the wharf and make an individual study of that cargo. Learn to know the earmarks — not only those called St. Peter's on a haddock, but the signs of perfect freshness on all fish. Do not be afraid of touching them ; fresh smelts have the fragrance of violets, and every fish has a wholesome smell. Turn them over, examine them closely. "An eye like a dead fish" refers to a fish which has lain for weeks in cold storage, not to one just from the water. It will have eyes as full and almost as clear as any living creature. Notice the gills ; they will be beautifully red, the fins will be stiff, the scales shining, and the flesh so firm that it springs right back after the finger has been pressed into it. One can not expect, especially if one's home is some distance from the ocean or the great lakes, to find in market fish as superlatively fresh as when lifted straight from the net. Still, to be fit for human food they should not have lost much of their beauty. The signs to avoid are limp fins, dull eyes, pale, liver-colored gills, flesh in which you leave a dent by an impression of the finger, streaks of gray or yellow in the skin and