Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Now take the sturgeon from the salted water, and roll the flanks inside. Pin a broad band of cotton cloth around the piece of fish to keep the flanks in place. Now put the fish into the kettle, and cook gently for one hour. At the end of that time take it from the water, and drain well. Take off the band of cloth, and slip the fish on a warm dish. Serve with any good fish sauce, like lobster, anchovy, egg, parsley, or oyster. A pint of wine is sometimes added to the water in which the sturgeon is boiled. * Baked Sturgeon. Use four pounds of sturgeon, one quarter of a pound of pork, one table-spoonful each of chopped carrot, turnip, and onion, two table-spoonfuls of butter, two of lemon juice, two of sherry, one table-spoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of white pepper, and flour for basting. Wash the fish in cold water, and let it stand in clean salted water for one hour. Cut the pork in thin slices, and lay about one-third of it on a tin sheet that has been placed in the drippingpan. Sprinkle the chopped vegetables over this pork. Take the fish from the water, and wipe it dry. Skewer the flanks into position, and then rub the lemon juice and half the salt and pepper into the fish. Now put the piece of fish on the vegetables, placing it on end, so that it resembles a fillet of beef. Cover the top with the remainder of the slices of pork. Now put it in the oven, and cook for ten minutes without water in the pan ; then add half a pint of boiling water. Five minutes later begin to baste in this manner : dip some of the gravy from the pan, and pour it over the fish ; then dredge with salt, pepper, and flour. Do this every fifteen minutes while the fish is cooking. The water in the pan must be renewed frequently. When the fish has been cooking for one hour, lift the pork from the top of the fish and drop it into the pan. Now baste the fish with the wine, and spread one tablespoonful of the butter over it ; then dredge rather thickly with flour. Repeat this in fifteen minutes. Cook for a quarter of an hour longer, and then take from the oven. The sturgeon should be a rich brown color. Slip the fish on to a warm dish, and place where it will keep warm while the sauce is being made. To Make the Sauce. — Take the tin sheet and the slices of pork from the pan in which the fish was cooked. Now add enough boiling water to make one pint of sauce, and place the pan on the top of the range. Mix one table-spoonful of flour with half a cupful of cold water. Gradually add this to the boiling liquid, stirring all the time until the mixture is about as thick as cream. Now taste, to see if it is seasoned enough. Add more salt, if any be needed. If any fat should float on top, skim it off. Strain, and serve with the fish. Sturgeon may be cut into steaks and broiled ; or be cut into small cutlets and breaded and fried, the same as other fish. * Boiled Red Snapper. The flesh of this fish is very firm, and is more suitable for boiling and baking than for any other form of cooking. Tastes differ as to whether or not the fins should be cut off. If you decide to have them cut, let the marketman do the work, as the bones of the fins are large, sharp, and strong.