The Toronto Cook Book

Scrape free from all scales, make a short opening down the belly, and take out the insides. Wash well, inside and out, and immediately wipe dry with a clean towel. Rub it well with salt. Make a dressing of one cup of stale bread crumbs, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, a half teaspoon of salt, and a little black pepper. Mix well and stuff the body of the fish and sew it up with soft yarn. Now score one side of the fish with a sharp knife, making the scores about one inch apart, and put a strip of salt pork in each gash. Place it in the bottom of a baking pan and dredge thickly with salt, pepper and flour; cover bottom of the pan with boiling water and put into a hot oven. Bake fifteen minutes to every pound of fish, basting every ten minutes with gravy on the pan. As the water evaporates, add more to again cover the bottom of the pan. Garnish with slices of lemon, fried potato balls, and parsley. When done, loosen it carefully and slide it into the dish. Baked Halibut (Creole Style) Get thick square piece of halibut or other fish if preferred. Wash and lay on baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Chop piece of white garlic size of a bean and strew over fish, then pour on cup of fresh or canned tomatoes. Bake until the flakes separate. Dish without breaking. Fish and Fish Sauces Block Island Baked Bluefish Stuff and bake, allowing twelve minutes to each pound, and serve with a cream gravy, made by blending one tablespoon each of flour and butter, and adding one cup water taken from the pan fish has been baked in. Season with salt and pepper; add one gill of cream and a pinch of soda. Bring to boiling point and serve. Boiled Salmon, Egg Sauce Take a salmon steak cut rather thick, tie with a string and place in boiling salt water and cook until tender. Place on a hot plate and pour over it a sauce made as follows: Rub two tablespoons of soft butter with one large tablespoon of flour in small stew-pan, add a coffee cup of milk, and stir till it thickens; season with pepper and salt and stir in lightly three hard-boiled eggs, cut in large slices. Fish Croquettes — Tomato Mayonnaise With a silver fork pick fine, enough flesh left from a boiled or baked fish to measure one and a half cups. Melt quarter cup of butter; cook in it until yellowed slightly two slices of onion, then add another cup flour, half a teaspoon of salt, and a dash of paprika and, when thoroughly blended, one cup of milk or white stock and one-third cup of cream. Stock made from the head and trimmings of a fish, or the water in which the fish was cooked, flavored with vegetables, is particularly good. Strain the sauce and beat into it an egg, beaten light without separating, or use simply the yolk of an egg. Stir over the fire, without boiling, until the egg is set, then mix in the prepared fish. Turn the mixture on to an agate plate and set aside to become cold, roll in crumbs, cover with a beaten egg, diluted with two or three tablespoons of cold water, and again roll in crumbs. Fry in deep fat; drain on soft paper and serve at once with cucumbers seasoned with French dressing; or when cucumbers are out of season, with mayonnaise dressing mixed with an equal bulk of thick tomato sauce. Devilled Fish