Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

To Make the Puree. — Cover the potatoes with boiling water, and place them on the fire just before putting on the fish and milk. Cook for half an hour ; then drain off the water, and mash the potatoes. Add the seasoning to them, and arrange on a warm dish in the form of a border. * Salt Fish and Eggs in Cream. This is a pretty dish for breakfast. It is made of a pint of salt fish, a pint of milk (cream is, however, better), half a dozen eggs, two generous table-spoonfuls of butter, one table-spoonful of flour, and salt and pepper in quantities to suit one's taste. Free the fish of skin and bones ; then wash it carefully, and tear it into small pieces. Let it stand over night in a pint of cold water, and in the morning set the basin which contains it on the stove in another of hot water, and let the fish cook for twenty minutes or half an hour. Meanwhile put the eggs into another basin, and after covering them with boiling water, cover the basin and set it where the water will keep hot for ten minutes without boiling. During this time put the milk on the stove in a saucepan. Stir the butter and flour together, and stir the mixture into the milk when it begins to boil. Season with salt and pepper, and then set the saucepan back for two minutes where the heat is so slight that the milk will only bubble. Turn the fish into the strainer, to drain off all the water ; then put it into the cream sauce, and cook five minutes longer. While it is cooking, transfer the eggs from the basin of hot water to some cold water, and then break the shells and remove them carefully. Cover the eggs with a napkin, to keep them warm. Pour the fish and cream upon a warm platter, and lay the eggs in a circle on top. If care has been taken to keep them hot without boiling, they will be soft and digestible. Serve the dish without delay. * Salt Fish in Cream. After tearing a pint of salt fish into bits, cover it with water, and let it soak over night. In the morning pour off the water, and add a pint of milk to the fish. Heat slowly and keep hot (without boiling) for half an hour. Rub together one large table-spoonful of butter and one of flour, and stir in with the fish and milk. Put the dish where it will simmer for ten minutes. Season, if necessary, with salt and pepper. It is an improvement to add two well-beaten eggs, and serve the fish in a border of mashed potatoes. Finished in this way, the dish is a good one for luncheon. * Fish Toast. Use six small slices of toast, one pint of cold cooked fish, freed of skin and bones, and torn into shreds with two forks, three gills of milk, two table-spoonfuls of butter, the yolks of two eggs, one teaspoonful of flour, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of white pepper, a generous teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful of lemon juice.