Soyer's standard cookery

This method is best suited to small fish of medium size. All the white fish should be rolled in flour and oil or clarified butter. Placed on a grid under a very bright fire, taking care that the grid is very hot before placing fish thereon. If you omit this the fish will stick to the grid. Salmon, trout, red-mullet, herring, mackerel need not be floured but must be rolled in oil or clarified butter in order to give fish a light brown color and secure the fine flavor. This is the only way recommended for grilling except by cooking by the paper bag process which I introduced and which is equivalent to the best grilling and without all sorts of appliances. Maitre d'Hotel, anchovy sauces, Ravigote, deviled sauce are the best sauces for grilled fish. Fish Frying a la Franchise. Is performed by rolling the fish (after cleaning) in salted milk and then in flour. It is then plunged into boiling fat and cooked until a light brown color. It is then allowed to drain and is ready to serve. Fish Frying a TAnglaise. After cleaning the fish it is rolled in flour and then immersed in the liquor formed of well-whisked eggs. It is next rolled in bread-crumbs and patted with a palette knife to ensure both the cohesion of the whole coating and a good shape to the fish. When cooked the fish is served either on napkins, a drainer, or special dish-papers, and garnished with sprigs of fried parsley and slices or quarters of lemon. Fish Cooked on a Spit and Called a la Brioche. This is suitable for large fish, such as a twelve pound salmon or cod. Trim and clean your fish in the usual way. Next chop finely one shallot and one onion and stew together in butter for two or three minutes, taking care that they do not color. Take from off the fire. Now prepare a mixture comprising one quarter pound of bread crumbs, the contents of two eggs, two teaspoonfuls of anchovy sauce (or, preferably half dozen cleaned and filleted anchovies), one tablespoonful of capers, a few mushrooms sliced and cooked, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a pinch of thyme and bay-leaves passed through a sieve, a piece of butter the size of an egg, salt and pepper. Form into a compact mass. Sprinkle the interior of fish with flour, after which stuff with the above mixture. Cut six very thin slices of fat ham or bacon and wrap about the fish to prevent the stuffing from falling out; tying round with thin string. Now take two or three very large sheets of grease-proof paper, well buttered, and roll these round your fish in a treble thickness and tied with kitchen string. The fish can now be placed on a cradle spit before the fire for three-quarters of an hour to one hour, basting occasionally. The best sauce is one of plain melted butter and should be served with the fish together with plain baked potatoes. Care must be taken in removing paper and string from the fish when cooked, otherwise it may fall to pieces. Fish cooked in this way was rightly described by my grandfather, Alexis Soyer, as a dish for a millionaire, although it is not costly. Cooking a la Meuniere