The Rural cook book

Baked Pickerel. — Clean the fish carefully and lay on a rack in a dripping pan; dredge with a teaspoonful of salt, several dashes of pepper, and a little flour. Bake carefully, basting every 10 minutes until well done, with hot water to which a tablespoonful of butter has been added. Make the sauce with half a cup of cream and half a cup of the basting liquid in which the fish was cooked ; thicken with a teaspoonful of butter and a tablespoonful of flour; let the sauce boil up once, then add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Pour part of the sauce around the fish on a platter, and serve the remainder in a gravy boat. Quahaug Pie. — Remove the loose brown skin and black part from a quart of sea clams and chop the remainder fine. Scald a cup of milk, the liquid from the clams and enough water, to make a pint in all, and thicken it with a tablespoonful each of flour and butter cooked to a smooth paste; then add pepper and salt to taste and two finely-chopped hard-boiled eggs, and lastly, the chopped clams. Line a meat pie dish with pie crust, then add a thin layer of cracker crumbs, the prepared clams, and sprinkle this over with another layer of cracker crumbs and cover with a good, rich crust, leaving several openings so the steam can escape. Bake about an hour in a hot oven until well browned. Salmon Chowder. — Chop coarsely and brown together in a kettle or saucepan, one-fourth pound of salt pork and one onion. Add one pint of raw potatoes, chopped or cut in dice, which have stood for half an hour in cold water. Season, barely cover with boiling water, and simmer for half an hour; then add a can of salmon, drained and flaked, two or three broken crackers and one pint of scalded milk or cream, with two teaspoons of butter. This may be varied by the addition of a can of tomatoes, or a shredded pepper or both. Creamed Salmon. — Put one tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan; when melted add one tablespoonful of flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of paprika and half a cup of milk. Cook until smooth, then add a small can of salmon finely minced, one tablespoonful lemon juice and a little grated nutmeg. Remove from the fire and add yolks of three eggs, well beaten; whip whites of the eggs stiff and fold in carefully. Butter small molds or a baking dish, place in hot water in a dripping pan and bake from 10 to 25 minutes. Escalloped Salmon. — Put one pint of milk to heat with a tablespoonful of butter. Moisten a tablespoonful of flour and stir in; when thick like cream remove from fire. Drain the liquid from the salmon and remove bone, pick it all up into fine pieces with a fork. Butter a baking dish, put in a layer of fine cracker crumbs, then half the salmon, another layer of cracker crumbs, and half the thickened milk. Then add the remaining salmon, a layer of crumbs and the remaining milk. Bake half an hour. Salmon Loaf. — One can of salmon drained and minced. Five tablespoonfuls of butter, four eggs well beaten; half cup of bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Mix all- together, and steam one hour in buttered mold. Fried Smelts, — Do not have the heads removed when the marketman cleans the fish. Wipe the outside of each with a damp cloth and then roll in Indian meal, then in beaten egg and then again into the meal; lay in a frying basket or place a few in a kettle of hot lard to cook until the coating is brown; remove them and drain on to plain paper, and when serving arrange with garnishing of sliced lemon and parsley. If the basket is used place the fish side by side in it and drop into the kettle of hot lard until the fish are browned.