then have a sufficient quantity of good gravy, into which the liquor of 2 or 3 dozen of oysters has been strained; thicken it with cream or butter: put it into a stewpan with the fish already named, a lobster cut in pieces, a spoonful of essence of anchovies, and a glass of Madeira. Warm the whole together, and send it to table with a lemon garnish. The sauce to this dish must be very rich, and of a fine dark colour.

FISH PÂTÉ.

293.-This is a pretty mode of enclosing a fricassee of fish with a potato wall without a crust of pastry. Mash in a mortar as many potatoes as you may want, with a good piece of butter; then, with the bowls of 2 silver spoons, raise a wall of it 2 inches high within the rim of the dish to be used, Let the upper part be a little thinner than the lower; smooth it; and, after brushing it all over with egg, put it into the oven to become hot, and a little coloured. Before egging it, the outside may be ornamented with flowers, leaves, &c., by the small tin shapes used to cut paste.

Beat the whole of a crab picked clean from the shell in a marble mortar, with white pepper and salt, nutmeg, and a very few crumbs of bread; warm it with a little gravy thickened with cream or butter and a spoonful of wine, and, when thoroughly warmed, add a little lemon-juice. Pour it into potato walls previously baked, but not covered like a pie, and serve it up hot, either browning it with the salamander, or covering the top with fancifully arranged small claws.

FISH CAKE.

294. Cut the meat from the bones, put them, the head and fins, over the fire to stew for gravy, with a pint of water, an onion, herbs, pepper, and salt. Mince the meat, put to it part of crumbs of bread, a little minced onion, parsley, pepper, salt, and a very small bit of mace: mix well, and make it into a cake with white of egg and a little melted butter; cover it with raspings, and fry it a pale brown, keeping a plate on the top while doing. Then lay it in a stewpan, with the fish gravy, and stew it gently of an hour; turn it twice, but with great care not to break it: cover it closely while stewing.

Cake of dressed meat, done in the same way, is remarkably good.

FISH-CUTLETS.-E. R.

295.-Chop a considerable quantity of herbs with a small piece of shalot, season it with pepper and salt, and put it into a stewpan with 2 oz. of butter; as the butter is melting add a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies. Do not allow the butter to more than melt, and mix the whole well together; then cut any kind of white fish, dressed or raw, into handsome cutlets, and, when the herb seasoning is nearly cold, spread it on the fish thickly with a knife; dredge the fish with bread-crumbs, and cook them on butter-pans in an oven, or before the fire. Stew a few silver button-onions, or a chopped onion, with any green vegetables in season, cut it into dice in a little broth, add nasturtiums and a little of the pickle; keep them in the middle of a dish, and lay the cutlets round.

Or-Take any fish previously dressed, pull it in pieces, and mix it with a little good stock, and any fish sauce which may have been left from table; spread it on a flat dish, brush it with egg and sprinkle thick with bread-crumbs, cut it out in cutlets, and fry brown.

KEDGEREE FOR BREAKFAST.

296.-Boil 2 tablespoonfuls of rice, add any fish previously cooked (salmon or turbot is preferable), and nicely picked; beat up an egg well, and stir it in just before serving. The egg must not boil.

FRICANDELLES OF FISH.

297.-Take any quantity that may be convenient of either dressed or undressed fish of firm quality; skin and bone it; mince it of the size of dice, with a few anchovies, say 2 to each pound, seasoned with mace, cayenne, and a grating of nutmeg; soak the crumb of a French roll, 1 to each pound, in milk, and beat it up with the yolks of 2 eggs to each roll, so as to make it into a purée, and put the fish into it; warm the whole gently, and add to it a moderate quantity of cream.

Put the fish thus prepared into a buttered mould, cover it thickly with bread-crumbs, and either bake it in a Dutch oven, or warm it before the fire, and brown it with the salamander.

A few oysters are an excellent addition; and if wine be

employed instead of milk, the dish may be dressed in the same manner, but rather more highly seasoned.

A MATELOTE OF FISH.

298.-Take carp or tench, or both, together with an eel and any small fish; cut them into pieces, and put them along with a quantity of button-onions into a stewpan containing just wine or gravy enough of any sort to cover them, and let them stew very gently until nearly done; then have ready a couple of minced truffles and a good handful of shrimps to mix into the sauce, which may be made of either white or red wine: the red may be made the more savoury, but the white wine will be found the most delicate: it should be thickened with yolk of egg, and the dish garnished with sippets of fried bread.

RAGOUT OF FISH.

299.-Take carp, tench, perch, pike, and eels; clean and scale them well, and cut them into pieces for serving; put in your stewpan a good-sized piece of butter, let it fry to a pale brown, fry some flour in it, and add a quart or two of good bouillon with a glass or two of red wine, and a few cloves and onions. When boiling, put your ragout into it, let it well boil, and add some lemon-juice before serving it up.

A VOL-AU-VENT

300.—Of fish, of any sort, is an elegant side-dish when prepared either with meat gravy or made up maigre. Muscles also make an excellent vol-au-vent.

STEWED FISH, HEBREW FASHION.-E. R.

301.-Take 3 or 4 parsley-roots, cut them into long thin slices, and 2 or 3 onions also sliced, boil them together in a quart of water until quite tender; then flavour it with ground white pepper, nutmeg, mace, and a little saffron, the juice of 2 lemons, and a spoonful of vinegar. Put in the fish, and let it stew for 20 or 30 minutes; then take it out, strain the gravy, thicken it with a little flour and butter, have balls made of chopped fish, bread-crumbs, spices, and the yolk of 1 or 2 eggs mixed up together, and drop them into the liquor. Let them boil, then put in the fish, and serve it up with the balls and parsley-roots.

FISH CURRY

302.-Is prepared in the same way as chicken or rabbit, with this difference only, that the stock should be invariably composed of fish broth.

For potting, collaring, and pickling, as well as for fishsauces, look to the several receipts under those heads.

When flour is made use of in the preparation of fish-stews or sauces, potato-flour is preferable to that made from wheat; and in making them up, always use a wooden in preference to a silver spoon.

TO PRESERVE FISH FRESH.

303.-Boil together 3 quarts of water and a pint of vinegar, in which, when quite boiling, put the fish, and just scald it, but not for more than 2 minutes. Then hang up the fish in a cool place, and it will keep for 2 or 3 days, and dress as well as if fresh caught.

It will be seen that several of the fish receipts here given make excellent side-dishes. It was formerly the English custom only to admit fish in the first course, but this is no longer the case, since it now appears at many fashionable tables as a side-dish in all stages of the dinner.

CHAPTER XVII.

GRAVY, SAUCES, AND CURRY.

THERE is nothing that requires more attention on the part of the cook than the sauces which are wanted to all made dishes; and those who are clever and economical will always contrive to procure the basis of these sauces in the manner pointed out in various parts of this volume. Where a calf's head or a breast of veal is stewed, nothing more will be required, as both will yield an abundant supply, and it will only be necessary to give it the proper flavour with ham, or beef-bone, and ketchup.

GRAVY

May be made quite as good of the skirts of beef, kidney, or milt, or of the liver of a fat ox, as of any other kind of meat, if cut in pieces, fried with onions, and seasoned with herbs and spices, as other gravies. A clever servant will contrive to supply, at a trifling expense, as much gravy as is wanted for the use of a small family by stewing down the trimmings of meat and bones. It may even be made of the shank-bones of legs and shoulders of mutton: they should be thrown into water, and, after a good soaking and brushing, be long boiled. The water in which they are done will add greatly to the richness of gravy, as does the jelly of cow-heels. The latter must lie all night in water, which causes the jelly to be of a good colour. When boiled 3 hours, and become cold, let the fat be carefully taken off; and when apparently quite clear, lay some white paper upon it, rubbing it close with a spoon, which will remove every particle of it will be as pure as the jelly of a calf's foot.

grease, and

In preparing meat to stew for gravy, beat it with a mallet or rolling-pin, and score it across in various places, as this will make it give out its juices; season it with pepper and salt, and put it into a stewpan with butter only, heating it gradually until it becomes brown, but shaking the pan frequently