The official handbook for the National Training School for Cookery

9. We put a piece of whitey-brown paper on a plate, stand the plate near the fire, and turn the fried whitebait on to the paper to drain off the grease. (We serve them on a napkin on a hot dish. Lemon cut, and thin slices of brown bread and butter should be served with the whitebait.) 2i8 National Training School for Cookery. Lesson No. 4. s. d. 1 sole Parsley and \ of shalot 4 mushrooms A teaspoonful of lemon juice Salt and pepper „ 2 tablespoonsful of glaze . . . . \ oz. butler Crumbs o 0 3 O Or O o\ I o Time required, about one hour. Now we will show you how to cook Sole an Gratin. 1. We take a small sole and cut off with a sharp knife the outside fins. 2. We cut through the skin only, across the head and the tail, on both sides of the fish. 3. We take the skin off from the tail to the head. 4. We wash the sole in cold water and dry it with a cloth, and nick it with a knife on both sides. 5. We can cook the sole in fillets, if required, or whole. (N.B. —If in fillets, we fillet the sole the same as for the fried fillets in Lesson No. 6.) We are going to cook the sole whole. 6. We take a small bunch of parsley and dry it well in a cloth. 7. We chop the parsley up finely on a board. 8. We chop a quarter of a shalot up finely and mix it with the parsley. 9. The chopped parsley and shalot should fill a tablespoon. 10. We take four small mushrooms, cut off the roots, and then wash the mushrooms well in a basin of cold water. Lessons on Cooking Fish. — Sole au Gratin. 219 11. We take them out of the water, dry them in a cloth and peel them. 12. We chop them up finely. 13. We take a dish, and spread a little butter on it with our fingers. 14. We sprinkle half of the chopped parsley, shalot, and mushroom over the bottom of the buttered dish. 15. We pour half a teaspoonful of lemon juice over the chopped parsley, shalot, and mushroom in the dish, also sprinkle half a saltspoonful of salt and a quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper. 16. We lay the sole carefully in the dish, and sprinkle over it the remainder of the chopped parsley, shalot, and mushroom. 17. We sprinkle over the sole pepper and salt (enough to cover a threepenny piece), and squeeze over it half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. 18. We take half an ounce of butter and cut it in small pieces and put them over the sole. 19. We pour over it two tablespoonsful of glaze. N.B. — Glaze can be bought, or it can be made by reducing some strongstock over the fire (see "Stews," Lesson No 4, Note 12). 20. We take a wire sieve and put it over a piece of paper. 21. We take some crumb of bread and rub it through the sieve. 22. We take these bread crumbs and put them on a flat tin. We put this tin into the oven to dry, and slightly brown, the bread crumbs. 23. When the crumbs are done we sift them over the sole. 24. We now put the dish into a brisk oven for ten minutes. We must take a fork and feel in the thick part of the sole if the fish is tender. 25. We carefully move the sole with a slice on to a clean dish, and pour the sauce round. It is then ready for serving. 2 20 National Training School for Cookery. Lesson No. 5. FILLETS OF SOLES A LA MAiTRE D'HOTEL.