The new practical housekeeping

The following is a good recipe for Salted Herring: Mix half peck each fine and rock salt ; take one hundred and seventyfive herring, put them loosely in layers with salt between, and after four days, drain well and repack in close layers on their backs, covering each layer with a mixture of half peck each fine and rock salt, quarter pound brown sugar, three quarters ounce saltpetre. Leave several months till salt takes eflFect. These are in season in February, March and April. Scalloped Fish, — Boil a cup oyster liquor, or milk, thicken with a little flour or corn-starch, add two tablespoons butter, a little chopped parsley and pepper and salt to taste and let cool ; put a handful fine bread-crumbs on bottom of buttered baking dish and cover with above sauce ; then put in a layer of cold boiled cod or other fish minced fine ; have three hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, and put a layer of the egg next, then more sauce, and so on, leaving out bread-crumbs until dish is full, when put a thick layer of crumbs over the top. plentifully strewn with butter. Cover and bake until hot througn, then remove cover and brown. Or put the remains of any cold fish, carefully picked from the bones, into a stewpah with a half pint cream, half tablespoon anchovy sauce, half teaspoon each made mustard and walnut catsup, and pepper and salt to taste. Set over fire to heat hot, stirring occasionally, but do not let boil ; put into a deep dish or scallop shells with plenty of bread-crumbs, place bits of butter on top ana brown with the salamander. The anchovy sauce, walnut catsup or mustard may be omitted, if not liked, and milk with an egg and a little flour may be used, instead of the cream. In _ preparing cold fisn dishes a little more butter is always [illustration: Scallop Shell] needed than for fresh fish. For a nice fish scallop with mashed potatoes, take any cooked fish, boned, and mix with it a white, egg, or drawn butter sauce seasoned to taste ; put a layer finely mashed potato in bottom of porcelain baking dish, put in the fish and cover with another layer of potatoes. Smooth the top over neatly and bake in moderate oven twenty minutes. Or form by heaping the fish high in the center of first layer of potatoes and cover this pyramid with the mashed potatoes and bake. Another very simple way of scalloping fish is to put thin slices of salmon, pike or turbot m scallop shells or small tins with bits of butter on top and bake until browned. Squeeze lemon juice over and serve. Cold fish is nice warmed over in this way. Steamed Fish. — After cleaning a fish, as for boiling or not, ia either case, place tail of fish in its mouth and secure it, lay on a plate, pour over it a half pint vinegar, seasoned with pepper and salt ; let stand an hour in refrigerator, pour off vinegar, and put in a steamer over boiling water ; steam twenty minutes, or longer if the fish is very large (when done the meat easily parts from the bone) ; drain well, and serve on a napkin garnished with curled parsley. Serve drawn butter in a boat. Or when nearly done, place in oven for a few minutes, baste, brown, and finish as baked fish. Fish intended for baking are very nice to be first steamed about an hour, and steaming is a much better method of cooking than boiling. Mackerel merely steamed, with no sauce, eaten with vinegar, or oil and vinegar, is delicious.