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Kent Coast Sea Fishing Compendium

Daily Express Prize Recipes for Fish Cookery

"Daily Express Prize Recipes for Fish Cookery" (Monday, 9th June 1930) Daily Express


The Daily Express: Monday, 9th June 1930


RULES FOR COOKING FISH

FRYING

Wash and dry the fish well. Soaking for a little time in salted water makes the flesh firm and improves the flavour. Wrap in a clean cloth to absorb all moisture. All fish to be fried should be coated to keep in the flavour. Use seasoned flour, egg and breadcrumb, or batter. Have the fat thoroughly hot before putting in fish. The blue smoke must rise before the fish is put in; if not your fish will be flabby and tough. Watch the fish carefully until it is a golden brown. Remove at once, drain well and serve very hot.

TO STEAM FISH

Steamed fish is delicious, all the flavour is retained and it is most digestible; for invalids it is ideal. It is a quick method and requires little watching. Wash and dry the fish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you haven't a fish steamer, place the fish on a buttered plate, put a dab of butter on each piece of fish, cover with another plate and stand them on the top of a saucepan of boiling water, until fish is tender when tried with a fork.

TO BOIL FISH

Fish should not be boiled if it can possibly be cooked in any other way. A lot of goodness is lost in the water. Most fish that is intended for boiling can be steamed but sometimes with a large piece such as a whole cod or salmon or cod or halibut head and shoulders, boiling is the only way. Proceed as follows: Half-fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add a dessertspoonful of vinegar and a bay leaf, salt and pepper. Tie the fish in muslin, and lower it gently into the water. Reduce the heat until the water just simmers, and do not let it gallop again while the fish is cooking. When done lift out the fish and let it drain well, still wrapped in the muslin. Remove muslin and serve with a piquant sauce.

The water in which the fish is boiled should never be thrown away; It makes delicious soup. Also, the bones and trimmings from filleted fish should not be left behind at the fishmonger's, but brought home to be made into fish stock and soups. Whenever possible fish should be cooked with the bones in and the skin on as they contain a large amount of nutriment that is too often lost in the present-day fashion of boning and skinning all fish.

TO BAKE FISH

This is another delicious way of cooking fish. It is usually served in the liquor in which it is cooked, so not a scrap of goodness is wasted.

You can either bake your fish in milk or in a little butter or dripping. Grease the pie dish or casserole, put in the fish, pour on enough milk to half cover the fish. Bake in a moderate oven until the fish is tender when tried with a fork. Thicken the milk for a sauce.

If you prefer to bake with butter, put the fish in the greased dish; as before, season it and put little knobs of butter or dripping on it. You will not need much fat as so much liquor comes out of the fish itself. It is a good plan to sprinkle the bottom of your greased dish thickly with seasoned breadcrumbs before you put in your dish.

BASS

BAKED AND STUFFED BASS

Take 1 bass, wash and clean and stuff with the following mixture and bake in quick oven for about 20 minutes. (For bass weighing about 1½ to 2 lb.) Stuffing: 2 oz. breadcrumbs, pinch of salt, pepper to taste, parsley and thyme mixed with small piece of butter and milk.

BAKED BASS

Wash and dry fish, place in a deep dish with ½ oz. of butter, 2 tablespoonfuls vinegar, and x tablespoonful tomato sauce, cover with a greased paper and bake in a moderate oven ½ hour. Take up the fish and pour liquid into a saucepan and stir in 1 teaspoonful of flour, a tiny piece of shallot, cayenne pepper and salt. Pour this over the fish and serve.

BASS ROAST WITH CHESTNUTS

A bass cooked in the following way forms a very tasty and substantial luncheon or dinner dish. Take a good-sized bass, cleanse and wipe dry; season inside and out with salt and pepper. Prepare some chestnut stuffing and put it into the fish and sew up. Place it back upwards on a greased baking pan and shape it into the form of the letter S. Brush 1 tablespoonful of olive oil over fish and bake in a brisk oven about 30 minutes or until done. Serve on a hot dish. Make thickened brown gravy in pan in which it was baked and pour round dish. Make the chestnut stuffing of ½ lb. of boiled and sieved chestnuts, 1 tablespoonful breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, a good pinch of thyme, a grating of lemon rind and a squeeze of juice, pepper, salt and yolk of egg.

A DELICIOUS DISH

Take a nice size bass (say about 4 lb.), remove head, fins and tail, scale it and thoroughly clean inside, slit it open, and stuff with the following mixture: Take sufficient breadcrumbs, sage, finely chopped onion, pepper and salt to taste, bind with a well-beaten egg, place little lumps of lard or dripping inside the fish, and place stuffing inside and sew up. Put fish in a baking tin, well lard it, and place in a moderate oven for about a hour, according to size of fish, and continually baste the fish. Bream prepared in the same way is most delicious and economical. The backbone of the bream should be removed before stuffing is placed inside. The secret lies in the basting of the fish while cooking. Cooked in this way, there is no "fishy" taste.

BREAM AND RED MULLET

RED MULLET

Dry the fish carefully, and rub each one over with the following mixture: a teaspoonful salad oil, 1 teaspoonful lemon juice, a little nutmeg, salt and pepper. Lay them in a dish, and strew over them some parsley and shallots finely chopped; let the fish saturate for 3 hours, then fry in boiling fat.

PESCADO MORENO

Take 1 large bream, boil ½ lb. of Spanish onions; when partly done put fish in, strain fish and onions when done, and leave a gill of fish gravy, then mix ½ lb. of best treacle, 1 gill of brown vinegar and 1 small gingerbread. Mix all ingredients, boil same for 20 minutes and pour over the fish.

GRILLED RED MULLET

A nice and tasty dish is red mullet cooked in this way: Make several cuts across the fish after cleaning. Now sprinkle over olive oil in which has been placed a pinch of mixed herbs, a little finely chopped onion. Drain off in about hour, season, and grill on both sides.

BAKED BREAM

Grease a fireproof dish, sprinkle it with a little chopped parsley and breadcrumbs, and lay the fish, prepared as for grilling, on top. Season with pepper and salt, squeeze a little lemon juice over and cover with more parsley and breadcrumbs, put pieces of butter on top, and bake slowly for about ¼ hour. Serve as it is, or with a nicely flavoured brown sauce, to which a little claret has been added.

ROAST BREAM

Purchase as many bream as needed; clean them, prepare some grease-proof paper. Grease the paper well with butter, sprinkle a little salt and pepper, then lay the fish on the buttered paper, fold over and tightly screw up the ends to keep in steam and prevent liquor from running out; place on a greased tin, and cook in a moderate oven from 20 minutes to ½ hour. When cooked, cut away paper and turn fish on to a hot dish, pour liquor over, and serve. Decorate dish with parsley fried. These fish are so delicious cooked in this way that they need nothing further added to them or they lose their delicate flavour.

STUFFED RED MULLET

Remove the fins and gills, and through the throats of the fish stuff them with the following mixture: Chop 4 or 5 chives very finely, mix with some tarragon, chopped parsley, a teacupful of fine white breadcrumbs soaked in milk. Heat 1½ oz. of fresh butter and add to the mixture. Season all with salt, a very little grated lemon rind, and pepper. Arrange fish in buttered pie-dish and bake in moderate oven for 20 minutes to ½ hour. Garnish with fried parsley and sliced lemon.

SEA BREAM WITH GOOSEBERRY SAUCE

Place sufficient cleaned and washed sea bream in a greased cooking dish, sprinkle with salt, and cover with hot mixture as follows: juice of 1 orange, 1 chopped onion, a few pieces carrot, small bunch of herbs, about 1 doz. peppercorns, ¼ pint water, ¼ pint vinegar. Boil all these together for hour. Pour on fish. Cook for ½ hour in a good oven. and serve cold, sprinkled with parsley. Serve the following sauce: Stew 1 lb. gooseberries with 1 teacupful of water and rub through a sieve. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, a small piece of butter and pinch of nutmeg. Leave till cold.

DUTCH STEWED BREAM

Cut 2 lb. of sea bream into neat pieces, season with salt and pepper, then put a layer into a stew pan, sprinkle with bread-crumbs. Repeat until all the fish has been used, being careful to have breadcrumbs on the top layer. Break 2 oz. of butter into small pats and place on the top. Grate a little nutmeg over the whole. Cook gently for ½ hour, then add a dessertspoonful of tarragon vinegar, slightly shake the stew-pan, but be careful not to break fish. Leave on stove for another 5 minutes, then serve.

FISH EN CASSEROLE

Remove the backbone from fish, clean, wash and wipe dry. Season the flesh side with salt and pepper. Make dressing of the bread-crumbs, ham, 1 tablespoonful parsley, onion, thyme, salt, pepper and well beaten egg. Fill fish and pack firmly. Tie securely and roll fish in flour. In the bottom of oblong casserole put all vegetables. Lay fish on top (sideways), and pour boiling water over all. Put tomato and some butter on top of fish, and bake from ¾ to 1 hour, basting occasionally. Last pour cream or milk, mixed with 1 teaspoonful of flour, over all. Let stand in oven 5 minutes longer. Serve in casserole. In spring, young peas can be added to vegetables.

BAKED BREAM WITH STUFFING BALLS

Cut the fish into steaks, wipe well and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Make the balls in the following way: ¼ lb. semolina, ½ lb. boiled onion, a pinch of mixed herbs, salt and pepper, and a little fish stock to bind the mixture. Shape into tiny balls and roll in oatmeal. Melt a little dripping in a large baking tin and, when it begins to smoke, lay in the fish steaks and arrange the little balls around the edge or wherever they will fit in. Baste well and cook for 1 hour in a brisk oven.

BAKED BREAM

Stuff the bream with a delicate forcemeat, after thoroughly cleansing it, and sew it up to prevent the stuffing from falling out. Rub it over with beaten egg and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Add the stock, onions, bay leaf, herbs, wine and anchovies, and bake for 1 hour. Put 1 oz. butter into a stew-pan, and dredge in sufficient flour to dry it up. Put in the strained liquor from the bream, stir frequently, and when it has boiled, add the lemon and seasoning. Serve the fish on a dish garnished with parsley and cut lemon, and the sauce in a boat.

BREAM PIE

Take 2 bream, 1 small onion, some sweet herbs and parsley, a little mace, pepper and salt, breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, some puff paste, water and vinegar.

Scrape, clean, and well wash the fish, make a stuffing with the breadcrumbs, the onion cut very fine, the herbs and the parsley, seasoning the whole with pepper and salt, and the mace, and mixing it with yolks and whites of the eggs well beaten up.

Having stuffed the fish, sew them up and lay them in a pie-dish sufficiently large, which has been lined with some light puff paste, adding about 1 pint of cold water and a tablespoonful of vinegar, bake for ½ hour in a slow oven.

It is better to leave the fish uncovered, so as to allow the steam which rises from the fish, when baking, to escape entirely. The stuffing and the crust with which the dish is lined will be found a sufficient accompaniment.

STUFFED CASES OF SEA BREAM

Clean, scale and trim the fish. Cut off the head. Slice into firm steaks. Scoop flesh from each, leaving the skin intact. Do not cut too close to the edge of the fish case. Lay the cases aside and chop the fish on a board with a fish chopper. Soak a few pieces of stale bread in water, squeeze and add to the fish. Season with a dash of cinnamon, ginger and pepper. Salt to taste. Grate in ½ Spanish onion. Add 1 or 2 well-beaten eggs according to size of fish. Chop well until quite smooth and free from lumps. The mixture should be moist and loose.

Next take fish case, hold in left hand and fill in with fish, turning it over and filling in to level. Smooth over with a little water on fingers. Lay on a flat dish.

Have saucepan (preferably aluminium: if enamel, place a plate at the bottom to prevent the fish burning) half filled with salted boiling water, to which has been added a few blades of saffron and a little allspice. Place fish in boiling liquid and simmer gently from ¾ hour to 1 hour. Serve with horseradish sauce.

SEA BREAM BOILED

1 sea bream, enough water to cover it, a large bunch of parsley.

Put the bream in a stew-pan with the parsley and enough boiling water to cover it; simmer until tender, then take it out and lay it on a very hot dish, pour over it some oiled butter with finely chopped parsley, and serve some oiled butter and finely chopped parsley.

SEA BREAM FRIED

1 sea bream, 1 egg, a few breadcrumbs, hot lard. Wash the bream, trim and cut in slices, dredge with flour, brush over with egg and cover with breadcrumbs; fry to a nice brown in hot lard. Lay on a very hot dish; garnish with fried parsley.

RED MULLET

Can be grilled or tossed in flour and fried. Serve with butter or tomato sauce. All whiting recipes are suitable for mullet.

LIVORNO MULLET (an Italian dish)

6 mullets about ¼ lb. each, 4 tomatoes or a breakfast cup of rather thin tomato puree, 1 tablespoonful butter and 2 of oil, ¼ lb. minced onion, pinch of crushed garlic, as much as a small pea, ½ cup of white wine, breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon juice.

Wipe the fish and score across with a sharp knife. Cook onion in butter and oil without browning. Add wine and reduce to half the quantity by boiling fast. Add tomato, salt, pepper, garlic. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes. Place fish in a gratin dish, pour over the sauce. Cover with breadcrumbs, sprinkle with drops of oil or dot with butter, if preferred. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes. Powder with finely minced parsley and finish off with a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve hot.

BRILL

BRILL À LA RAVIGATE

Clean 1 brill, selecting a small one, slit it down the back, dust it over with salt and pepper, put it on a hot grid-iron over a clean fire, and broil it, or it may be wrapped in buttered or oiled paper and baked in the oven. Put it on a dish when done, and serve with a sauce-boatful of mayonnaise sauce coloured green with chopped tarragon, chervil and chives.

BRILL À LA SAINT MÈNÈHOULD

Put any pieces of cold boiled brill into a saucepan with sufficient thick béchamel sauce to moisten them. Warm them, put the mixture into a baking dish, smooth the surface with a knife, cover it with grated bread and parmesan cheese. Put into oven and brown it. Take it out and serve hot.

BRILL BOILED IN WINE

Clean a good-sized brill and split it down the back. Butter a dish, place the fish on it with the brown side down, pour over it Madeira or white wine and a little water, sprinkle over with salt and place it (covered) upon the fire. Let it boil gently for few minutes, then remove it to the side and leave it ½ hour. Place fish when done on a long dish, and pour over it the following sauce: Take the liquid the fish has been boiled in, and mix 1 oz. of butter with it. Beat up in a basin 3 yolks of eggs, and add 1 breakfast-cupful of cream or milk, and strain it through a gravy strainer, add this to the other, also 1 oz. of fresh butter pulled into pieces, a small quantity of grated nutmeg and a little finely chopped parsley. When the butter is dissolved, the sauce is ready to be served in a tureen and a little over the fish.

POTTED BRILL

¼ lb. cooked brill, 2 oz. butter or margarine, 1 teaspoonful anchovy or shrimp essence, ½ teaspoonful vinegar, pepper and salt, a pinch each of cayenne and powdered mace.

Free the brill from all skin and bone, then weigh it. Put it into a mortar with most of the butter melted, and season to taste rather highly. Pound well until smooth and then rub through a sieve. Pack this smoothly into a small pot or jar, and run the rest of the butter over the top. This will preserve the mixture and prevent it from becoming dry. This makes delightful sandwiches with a little thinly sliced cucumber or small cress added. Other fish, such as salmon, cod, halibut or mackerel, may be used in the same way.

BAKED BRILL WITH PARMESAN CHEESE

Break up any pieces of brill left from previous day, taking all bones and skin away (this is best done when hot), make a thick béchamel sauce, place on a tin, smooth with French knife dipped in boiling water. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, brown with a salamander or in the oven. Serve very hot.

The béchamel sauce is made with 2 oz. butter, 1½ flour, 1 pint good white stock, a little cream, pepper, salt, and a few drops of lemon juice.

BRILL MARINÉE

Draw and clean 1 brill, making a few gashes in its back. Make a pickle of vinegar, salt, spring onions, peppercorns, bay leaves and slices of lemon. Soak the fish in this pickle for 2 hours if possible, then strain off and dip the brill in breadcrumbs mixed with melted butter. Season with a little salt and cook in a moderate oven from 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with a purée of tomatoes. This method is also excellent using skate or carp instead of brill.

BRILL WITH POLISH SAUCE

Steep the fish in salt and water for 1 hour before cooking it, trim and rub it over with lemon juice, and put in the fish-kettle with plenty of salted water, laying a buttered paper over it. Bring it gently to the boil and let it cook at the side of the stove for 15 or 20 minutes, according to size. Rub a tiny piece of butter over the fish and sprinkle with finely minced parsley. For the sauce, well wash and grate 1 stick of young horse-radish and beat it quickly into 1 gill of stiffly whipped cream, flavouring to taste with cayenne and lemon juice or chilli vinegar.

FRIED BRILL

Have filleted fish, wipe dry, brush over with egg, and cover with breadcrumbs. Fry in hot dripping and garnish with parsley and cut lemon. Serve with shrimp sauce.

BOILED BRILL

Clean and cut off fins, rub over with lemon to preserve whiteness. Put into pan, with cold water to cover. Add salt and a little vinegar. Bring gradually to boil, simmer gently until done. A middle-sized fish takes ¾ hour. Garnish with lemon and parsley and serve with shrimp sauce.

CAT AND DOGFISH

DOGFISH IN BATTER

Cut the fish into about 8 pieces. After washing and drying it, place it in a pie-dish or meat tin with the dripping, and cover with grease paper. To make the batter, put flour and salt in a basin and a little pepper and nutmeg, and in a hollow in the centre place the 2 eggs without beating them. Gradually stir in the milk and beat the batter till smooth. If possible let it stand for 1 hour. Stir in the water. Heat the tin containing the fish in the oven, and when the dripping smokes pour on the batter. Bake in moderate oven for about 40 minutes. Serve in a pie-dish or cut into squares and serve in a hot dish. A good dinner for 4 or more persons.

CATFISH FILLETS

Take 2 or more fillets of rock salmon (catfish). Prepare a stuffing as follows: Equal quantities of breadcrumbs and suet, sprinkling of mixed herbs, pepper and salt to taste, 1 egg. Lay between fillets. Place fish in covered baking dish with small quantity milk. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake 40 minutes in moderate oven. Cheap and tasty. This recipe is from a "Daily Express" reader, aged 90.

CATFISH

An excellent way to cook this very inexpensive fish is to place slices in a baking tin, or fireproof dish, and cover with a well-flavoured sauce made with ½ pint milk, juice of a lemon, tablespoonful of good oil thickened with a very little cornflour. Bake in a moderate oven till fish is cooked. Sprinkle toasted breadcrumbs on top to improve appearance.

A DELICACY KNOWN ONLY TO FISHERMEN

"Cat's" liver fried in olive oil or good roast fat. Ask any deep-sea fisherman about it, and he will smack his lips. The catfish, the cleanest feeding fish in all the seas, is not attractive to look at with his bull-dog jaw, but, as rock salmon, he is sold in all the shops, and can be bought by the thrifty housewife for as little as 8d. per lb. When buying this fish ask that the liver be left in the fish. Carefully wash in water (not vinegar) the liver, and slice, fry for 10 minutes in oil or roast fat and serve as an entrée with parsley sauce.

The fish (unboned) should be baked for ½ hour and garnished with slices of lemon and with butter sauce served as the fish or as the principal course. Gourmets know the food value of this delectable fish. The liver has a distinctive flavour which is quite unique. It contains vitamins in greater abundance than the better-known, because so much more advertised, liver of the cod.

DOGFISH PIE

Skin the dogfish and cut into pieces about 2 in. long, just cover with cold water and bring to boil, simmer gently until tender. Arrange fish in a pie dish, and season to taste with pepper and salt, chopped parsley, cover with the liquid it was stewed in. Cover the dish with a good short crust and bake until it is nicely browned. Serve hot with mashed potatoes, or leave until quite cold, when the fish will be set in a delicious jelly and make a very nice cold dish. Huss is a variety of the lesser spotted dogfish, and can usually be bought quite cheaply wherever the boats from the North Sea or Dogger Bank market their fish. It is of great food value. Conger eel, also, is very good treated in this way. Fresh haddock may be filleted and used in the same way, but does not need any preliminary stewing, and is best served hot as it will not jelly.

CATFISH PANCAKES

… are delicious, being made from one of the sweetest and most succulent of fish. Take:

Fry the flour in the butter (stirring all the time) until it is a rich brown, then add the Marmite, vinegar and water, and stir till it boils. Season with salt and pepper and put in the fish, which has been washed and cut into small pieces, and let it simmer very gently while making pancakes, for which you will require: ¼ lb. flour, ¼ teaspoonful salt, 1 large egg, ½ pint milk - or milk and water - 2 oz. lard. 2 oz. grated cheese. Put egg and salt in the flour and stir in gradually half the milk. Beat well, then stir in the rest of the milk. Heat a piece of lard about the size of a cherry until it smokes, then take pan from gas and pour in enough batter just to cover the bottom; fry quickly until it is set, then slip a knife under and turn over. Turn out on to a paper, sprinkled with grated cheese. Fill with a little fish and some sauce and fold in half. Keep hot while doing other pancakes. Serve on hot dish with lemon. This quantity is sufficient for 4 people.

COD AND HAKE

COD PIE

Boil fish; set water aside for sauce. Chop onions and garlic and boil few minutes in oil, then make sauce of fish water, flour and butter, salt and pepper; add to onions and garlic and boil again for 10 minutes; then put in thyme and parsley. Steam potatoes, slice, then place in baking dish in alternate rows of fish, pimento, tomatoes, potatoes. Pour over sauce and sprinkle breadcrumbs over and bake ½ hour.

HAKE WITH TOMATOES AND BUTTER BEANS

Heat the margarine in a baking tin, put in the tomatoes cut into thick slices, and bake for 5 minutes. Wash and dry the fish, dip it in the hot margarine in the tin and roll in seasoned breadcrumbs.

Place slices in the middle of tomatoes, and lay a rasher of bacon on each piece of fish. Bake for 15 minutes or until tender, and serve the fish on a hot dish surrounded by a border of the tomatoes, adding a border of boiled butter beans, cooked in usual way, with tiny bits of butter added to beans.

FRITTERS OF SALT COD

The cod should be left to soak over night and put on to boil in cold water (if it appears to be very salt change the water) and leave it until it becomes tender, then remove all the bones carefully and chop up small. Put it into a basin, adding the flour (to which may be added a pinch of baking powder), salt if required, a little onion and parsley and sufficient water to make a firm paste (rather doughy). Afterwards this may be softened by 1 large egg or 2 small ones.

Put into a frying pan a little lard or oil and, with a spoon, drop in the mixture in little lumps. Fry the fritters a light brown, drain them from grease as they come out of the pan and serve very hot. This makes an excellent breakfast dish.

SALT COD À LA MALTE

Take 1 lb. salt cod or ling, soak for 12 hours, changing water several times, cut into small pieces and put into stew-pan with water to cover. Add tomatoes (if out of season tomato paste - obtainable in tins - may be used), grated carrot, 3 Spanish onions, 3 or 4 potatoes and about 2 dozen olives. If pumpkin is obtainable, a small quantity adds to the flavour. A wineglassful of red wine may also be added. Stew slowly until fish is fairly tender. Cost is small and a very tasty dish is the result.

UNUSUAL BROWN STEW

Cut lemons into slices, also onions, boil 20 minutes in a little water, then add cutlets cut into pieces, also roe. Simmer ½ hour. Mash up gingerbread in the vinegar, add to the other ingredients. Put brown sugar into a small saucepan, hold it over the gas jet to brown it, add to this a small tablespoonful of flour with a little water to make it into a paste. Stir it into the mixture to thicken all. Serve hot or cold.

COD À L'ITALIENNE

Chop the shallot, mince the ham very fine, pour on the stock and simmer for 15 minutes. If the colour should not be good, add cream in the above proportion, and strain it through a fine sieve; season it, and put in the vinegar, lemon juice and sugar. Now boil the cod, take out the middle bone, and skin it; put it on the dish with­out breaking, and pour the sauce over it and serve very hot. This is a very tasty dish and does not take long to do.

FISH FOAM CASTLE

Well wash a teacupful of rice, boil in 1 pint of milk, with some lemon rind cut very thinly. Pour while hot into a mould cover and steam. Take 1½ lb. of hake or cod, place between plates and bake in oven. When cooked, shred up and remove all skin and bones, add pepper and salt and a teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar, also the yolks of 3 eggs (beaten). Turn out the rice mould, pour the fish over it, and heap the whipped whites over all. Put in oven for a few minutes to slightly brown the meringue. This makes a delicious fish dish, hot or cold.

BRANDADE OF COD

Put the cod into a large saucepan of cold water with a few crushed peppercorns. As the water is coming to the boil, skim it and remove from the fire. Replace lid and leave for 3 hour. Take out the fish, drain it, remove skin and bones, and break up the flesh into flakes.

Make the flakes into a paste, adding olive oil in very small quanti­ties during the process. Put the paste into a saucepan adding more oil, drop by drop, while stirring well with a wooden spoon. Cook over a slow fire for about ½ hour, stirring the whole time and taking care that the mixture doesn't boil. Should it become too thick, add a little milk. The juice of a lemon may also be added, a little at a time. Now mix in a couple of truffles which have been cut into thin slices. Salt and pepper to taste.

Some people like a little garlic and chopped parsley added, while others consider that these ingredients spoil the brandade. When garlic is used it should be well mixed into the paste before cooking. The parsley should be added at the same time as the truffles.

COD WITH ARTICHOKES

Take 1 lb. of cooked cod, 2 hard boiled eggs and some boiled Jerusalem artichokes. Free fish from skin and bone and break into flakes, and place in saucepan and add enough egg sauce (previously made) to make a nice consistency. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Make mixture quite hot and pile on a hot dish. Put some more egg sauce round base and garnish with the hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, and cooked artichokes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve very hot. For the sauce: melt 1 oz. butter in saucepan, add 1 oz. flour, stir well, then add pint milk, pepper and salt, and, lastly, chopped egg.

FISH IN POTATO PASTRY

This is a good way of cooking fish for a family. Boil about 1 lb. of cod for 15 minutes in salted water, make a good gill of white sauce. When cod is cooked, take out of water and drain. Then make potato pastry with 5 oz. flour, 3 oz. sieved cold potatoes, 4 oz. margarine, 1 teaspoonful baking powder. Cream margarine, add potatoes, flour, etc. Roll out and line a greased cake tin with the pastry (not too thin), then add your fish and sauce in alternate layers until filled, and roll a top covering out of pastry left and place on top. Bake in a hot oven 20 or 3o minutes until it is a nice brown colour.

COD'S HEAD CHOWDER

Boil head for 15 minutes; take out, remove meat and tongue in flakes; place aside; replace remainder and simmer for 1½ hours. Boil beans till soft, mash to cream in own water. Boil and mash potatoes and any other scraps of roots handy. Put bacon or pork, in ½ in. pieces, in with head bones. Remove head bones; skim, add meat stock (2 pints), bean and potato mash and bacon scraps. Flavour with salt, pepper and anchovy to taste. Add water if necessary to make 5 to 5½ pints. Add fish 10 minutes before serving. Fried bread squares in separate dish. Sufficient for 8 good soup plates.

Mussels, shrimps, whelks and the like improve the mixture. Costs 1s. 1d.

BAKED COD WITH RED PEPPERS

Choose tail end of cod and remove bone. Lay the two pieces in a well-buttered baking dish, and brush them over with more melted butter or margarine. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, lemon juice, mace, chopped onion and parsley. Cut the top off the red peppers, remove the core and seeds and scald them in boiling water 10 minutes. Then cut them in thin threads and lay them over the fish. Cover the top with white breadcrumbs, dot a few pieces of butter over, and bake in a good oven about hour, until the fish is well cooked and tender. Serve in dish that it is cooked in.

DELICIOUS WAY OF USING COD'S ROE

Place in pan with 1 oz. of butter, 2 oz. of raw cod's roe (in small pieces), a beaten egg, 2 tablespoonfuls of milk, pepper and salt. Stir over gentle heat till it commences to thicken, then add 1 tea­spoonful of Worcester sauce. Spread on buttered toast. It will be much enjoyed by all.

TOMATOES STUFFED WITH COD

Steam ¾ lb. hake and cod. When done, drain all liquid. Take 4 - or as many as required - tomatoes, cut tops off, remove pulp, fill with fish and little hard-boiled egg. Put tops on, bake for 15 minutes with margarine or butter. Serve with egg sauce and mashed potatoes.

DEVILLED COD

Wash 3 large cod cutlets and dry them in a cloth. Put 1 small teacupful of cold white sauce into a basin, whisk it until it is smooth, and then stir into it ½ teaspoonful of anchovy essence, 1 teaspoonful of mixed mustard, and 1 level tablespoonful of chutney, seasoning the whole with salt and cayenne. Melt 1 oz. of margarine, and brush over the cutlets. Spread the sauce mixture thickly both sides. Coat with 3 large tablespoonfuls of brown breadcrumbs, put the cutlets on a greased tin with 1 oz. margarine cut in small pieces on top; bake in a moderately hot oven for 15 minutes.

CORNED COD (an Easter Dish)

Buy a good-sized cod fish, split it up the centre and remove back­bone, wash well and place on large flat dish. Sprinkle well with common salt and also brown sugar, leave all night. In morning, drain off the juice and pepper the fish, then insert wooden skewer across back and hang up in air to thoroughly dry.

When required, trim and cut into suitable portions and grill, first cooking the skin side; then turn and cook other side till a deep brown. Spread with butter and serve very hot.

This is a most tasty dish and has unusual flavour.

HAKE WITH BROWN SAUCE

Cut the hake in slices and sprinkle with salt and pepper, rub them with butter and fry. Beat together 1 oz. of butter and ½ oz. flour, add to this 1 pint of stock, 1 glass of white wine, 1 onion, 1 bunch of sweet herbs, salt and pepper. Bring all to the boil and then put in the slices of hake. Boil a few minutes, add the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little vinegar and again bring to the boil. Stir well, pour over the hake and serve hot.

COD AU GRATIN

Take a whole hake or cod (any size as required), clean, wash and dry well. into a good-sized lump of butter in the tin and put the fish into this. Sprinkle over it some grated Gruyere cheese, covering the whole fish well - about ½ in. thick. Bake in moderate oven for 15 minutes, then throw over the whole ½ cup of sour cream and bake another 20-25 minutes to a nice rich brown colour. Put the fish on a hot dish, garnish with parsley, add a little milk into the pan and thicken with flour. This will make a nice, tasty sauce, which can be thrown over the fish or served separate.

SPICED COD

Put the fish into a deep pie dish, boil the spices in the vinegar for 5 minutes, and then pour it all slowly over the fish. Now take a large spoon and, with it, pour the pickle 4 or 5 times slowly over the fish. Leave it until next day. Then drain off the pickle and serve the fish with lettuce salad.

FISH LOAF WITH EGG SAUCE

Flake fish into a basin, discarding all skin and bones. Mix in crumbs, potatoes, lemon juice, parsley, celery salt, capers, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pack all into a well-buttered mould and steam for 1 hour. Turn out on a hot dish and serve with egg sauce.

FISH CURRY

Boil 1 lb. of cod in salted water in which a little vinegar has been added. Fry until brown 1 small onion, 1 apple, and a few raisins in a little butter. Then add 1 dessertspoonful of ground rice, 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder, and ½ pint of good white stock. Simmer slowly for 20 minutes. Add the flaked cod, heat up, and before serving put in 2 tablespoonfuls of cream and a squeeze of lemon. Serve with a border of rice boiled dry.

ROAST COD

Use preferably the middle cut, about 3 lb. Wash and dry the fish, as usual, do not remove the bone, but stuff the ends with forcemeat. Fold the flaps over and fasten with a skewer or string. Dust the fish with salt and pepper, and a generous sprinkling of nutmeg. Place the fish in a baking tin and baste thoroughly with dripping, to which has been added 3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Cook slowly for about 1 hour. Then make brown gravy. Serve with potatoes and green peas. Sufficient for 4 adults.

COD SOUNDS

Wash 3 large sounds nicely, and boil in milk and water, but not too tender. When cold make a forcemeat of chopped oysters, crumbs of bread, a bit of butter, nutmeg, pepper, salt and the yolks of 2 eggs. Spread it thinly over the sounds, and roll up each in the form of a chicken, skewering them. Then lard them as you would chickens, dust a little flour over, and roast them in a tin oven slowly. When done enough, pour over them a fine oyster-sauce. Serve for side or corner dish at first course.

CODDLED FISH IN MUSTARD SAUCE

Make some good white sauce in a double saucepan. Add spoon­fuls of made mustard to suit the family taste. Into this sauce put uncooked pieces of fresh or smoked boneless fillets, cod or hake. Cover the saucepan closely and cook the fish for 20 minutes. Just before serving stir in a tablespoonful of vinegar gently so as not to break the fish, and serve on a hot dish. By this method of cooking all the juices are retained and the fish becomes deliciously tender and appetising.

COD, HAKE OR HALIBUT

Cut into equal thin slices, salt and pepper, and set aside for 10 minutes. Take a thick saucepan and pour in ½ cupful of salad oil. When boiling, brown a chopped onion and nut of garlic. Fry fish until brown. Add 3 large tomatoes and 1 teacupful of white wine or vinegar and water. Make a bouquet of parsley, thyme and a bay leaf and, together with a pinch of saffron, place in saucepan. Boil briskly for 5 minutes, cover pan and simmer for 20 minutes. Place fish on a dish and keep hot. Strain sauce and pour over fish garnished with chopped parsley.

KENTUCKY COD

Cut the cod in pieces about 2 in. square, season with pepper and salt, and roll in corn-meal (if this cannot be obtained use oatmeal). Fry some thin rolls of bacon and arrange them round a hot dish; fry the fish brown in the bacon-fat and if there is not enough in the pan add some lard. Drain the fish and arrange it in a pile on a hot dish with the fried bacon round.

COD (MORUE d'OSTENDE)

Make a batter with the flour, egg, and milk, and let it stand for several hours. Cut the fish into 2 rather thick slices, divide these into little fillets about 2 in. across, dip them into the batter, and fry in boiling fat or oil till they are a pale golden brown. Fry the oysters lightly in a little butter, without allowing them to harden. Dress the fillets on a folded serviette, and place an oyster on each. Decorate with parsley or water-cress.

AN EXCELLENT DISH FOR LUNCH

Butter a fireproof dish, or neat pie dish, into which place pieces of cold boiled fish, cod, hake, ling, etc. Cover these pieces with slices of 2 hard-boiled eggs. Beat up 1 egg and add ¼ pint of milk to it, and stir into it 2 big tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce. Pour over the fish and cover with brown breadcrumbs with tiny bits of butter on top to brown it. Bake for ½ hour in a moderately hot oven. Serve with slices of cut lemon and parsley round the dish. 1 lb. of fish is enough for two people. Allow ½ lb. for every extra person and 1 tablespoonful of tomato sauce, besides extra milk and egg.

SAVOURY COD OR HAKE

Choose the tail end of cod or hake, wipe it and put it into a fire­proof baking dish. Pour over it the oil or melted butter and the vinegar or lemon juice. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley, onion, pepper and salt. Turn the fish several times in this mixture, then pour over the tomato purée, made by rubbing fresh or tinned tomatoes through a sieve. Cover the fish and bake in a moderate oven from ½ to ¾ of an hour, according to its thickness. When nearly ready remove the cover, sprinkle the fish with grated cheese and return to the oven until lightly brown. Serve with mashed or fried potatoes.

HOT-POT OF FISH

Cut up 2 onions and fry them lightly in butter. Thinly slice 2 or 3 carrots and slightly brown them in the fat. Place a layer of sliced raw tomatoes at the bottom of a casserole or fireproof dish, then a layer of onions, a layer of carrots and a few mushrooms (if liked). On the top place the fillets of cod, hake or halibut, and arrange circles of tomatoes cut in halves, alternately with slices of potatoes. Put on a few dabs of butter. No other moisture is required. Cook in the oven ½ hour, covered with greased paper. Remove paper and cook for another 10 minutes so that the potatoes and tomatoes may be nicely browned. Sprinkle chopped parsley over and serve piping hot.

FISH NESTS

Cook ½ lb. cod or other white fish, and 5 or 6 medium-sized pota­toes. When both are tender mash them together, add 2 tablespoon­fuls of butter, or margarine, salt and pepper, and 1 egg well-beaten. Mix thoroughly and form into 6 balls, and place in a well-greased baking dish. Flour the bottom of a small cup, and make an indenta­tion in each ball, thus making a nest. Brush it over with egg, and sprinkle with crumbs. Brown in a hot oven, and then fill the cavities with cooked and seasoned green peas.

FISH STEWED WITH SAFFRON SAUCE

Wash fish, place in saucepan with onion and water, and seasoning. Cook gently. Mix yolks, lemon and saffron together. Pour over the fish, and cook the same by gently tipping the saucepan back­wards and forwards, until the eggs thicken. Serve cold, with the sauce poured over and round the fish.

CREAMED COD FISH AND SHRIMPS

Well cover the codfish with just warm water, add ½ teaspoonful of salt and simmer for io minutes. Remove skin and bones and flake the fish.

Shell the shrimps. Melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the flour and cook gently without burning for 5 minutes. Then stir in the milk very gradually. Continue stirring whilst it boils 5 minutes. Add a good seasoning of pepper, the anchovy, flaked fish, the lemon juice and the shrimps. Make very hot, turn on to a hot dish, garnish with shrimps and serve. This is also very good surrounded with tomato sauce.

PALATABLE DISH OF SALT COD

Take 2 lb. of salted cod. Put into cold water for a few hours, change the water several times to get rid of excess salt. Cut the fish into several pieces. Put into a pan with cold water and bring to the boil. Keep at the side of the fire, well covered with lid, for another 25 minutes. Drain and break into pieces with the fingers so that no bones are left in the fish. Whilst still warm, put into a strong bowl or mortar and pound to a smooth paste with about 3 tablespoonfuls of béchamel sauce made as below.

Béchamel Sauce: Melt a piece of butter (size of a pigeon's egg) in a small pan, stir in one tablespoonful of flour; work to a smooth paste. Add a small cupful of warm milk, stir till it thickens, season with salt.

Put the fish mixture into a pan. Work it with a wooden spoon, adding gradually 5 or 6 tablespoonfuls of pure olive oil. Mix well and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice, from time to time.

Season with pepper and a clove of garlic well pounded (if garlic is not liked, use a slice of raw onion well pounded). Put in 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of cream. Heat the mixture in the same pan, but do not let it boil. Add a little more lemon juice if liked. The mixture should be white, smooth and creamy. Finish with a pinch of chopped parsley and garnish with triangular sippets of fried bread. Serve very hot.

FLAKED COD PIE

Mix all together, put into a buttered pie dish which has been rubbed over with lemon, and bake in hot oven for ½ hour. Serve with boiled rice.

COD WITH APPLES

1½ lb. cod cutlets, filleted cod cut into convenient sized pieces, or other white fish, 1 good cooking apple, peeled and cut into small dice, or thin slices, ½ a lemon.

Well grease a deep fireproof dish, lay in it some pieces of the fish. Salt and pepper it. Place some small pieces of butter or margarine on the fish, lightly cover with the apple. Lay the rest of the fish on this. Salt, pepper, butter and apple, as before. Squeeze lemon juice over the whole, and bake in a moderate oven (20 to 30 minutes). If liked, a little grated cheese may be scattered on the top.

STEWED FISH

Cook 3 lb. of cod, turbot, or plaice, in about 1 pint of water, care­fully remove fish from liquor. Chop and fry in a small quantity of salad oil 2 onions, add to the liquor. Mix 1 oz. of flour to a smooth paste, add the yolks of 4 eggs, the juice of 3 lemons, 1 tablespoonful of finely chopped parsley, a pinch of saffron, ginger, mace and cinnamon, add this mixture to the fish liquor, and very gently simmer until it thickens, stirring all the time. Make some very small savoury balls with a little cooked onion, a little parsley, pepper, and spice. Cook in mixture a few minutes. Pour this sauce over fish, being very careful that all water is strained away from the fish; it should all have been added to the sauce.

COD À LA CRÉOLE

Wipe the fish and remove bone. Lay it on plate with oil, vinegar and juice. Let it soak for hour and turn it 2 or 3 times. Butter a fireproof dish and put in the fish, pouring the tomato juice (either tinned or fresh) over it. Add also the liquid in which the fish soaked. Season well. Cover and bake in moderate oven for ½ hour or longer. Before serving, sprinkle cheese over fish, add small piece of butter and brown quickly under grill (or in oven). Slices of halibut or hake can be cooked in the same manner.

COD FISH AU GRATIN

Boil cod until tender. After taking out bones break into small pieces. Make sauce with milk, thickening with flour and flavouring with anchovy sauce, parsley and wine. Pour over fish and mix well together. Butter pie dish and line it round with breadcrumbs and with water from fish, then press fish into dish, put breadcrumbs over. Bake ½ hour, and put on to hot dish, with a border of parsley.

A SAVOURY FISH PATTIE

Boil and mash potatoes with milk and margarine. Arrange round a flat dish. Boil cod with salt, piece of lemon peel, and cloves. Heat oil until a blue smoke appears, and then put in tomato purée and beat till well mixed. Bone the fish and place in centre of potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt. Pour on purée and mix slightly. Close in bank of potatoes and place on top long slices of pimento crossways. A few pieces of margarine on top. Cook in moderate oven for ½ hour.

COD ROE RISSOLES

Steam roe and carrots. Remove skin, mash well together, bind with well-beaten egg, and salt. Make into "balls", roll in bread-crumbs, and fry quickly in good fat. Raw grated carrot can be used if desired.

COD-0'-LEEKIE

Place 4 large fat leeks, split lengthways, alternately head and tail, in a well-buttered fireproof glass casserole dish (not too deep) or a pie dish. Add a pinch of salt and enough milk - or milk and water - to well cover the leeks, adding more if necessary. Cover closely and simmer in the oven until leeks are tender. Place 1 large, or 2 small, thick steaks of cod in the dish, on top of the leeks, and fill up with milk. Add a lump of butter, the size of a walnut, cover closely and continue to cook for about 20 minutes, until the fish is done and most of the milk absorbed. Then cover with a thick white sauce over all, and return to top of oven to become a golden brown. A sprinkle of grated cheese or parsley is a great improvement.

A COLD SUPPER DISH

Bake the middle of hake in butter in an earthenware dish until it falls apart, half fill large escallop shells with fish. Chop spring onions, hard-boiled eggs, and parsley very fine, and sprinkle on with salt. Steam some fresh mussels, clean and prepare and put back in half their shells, and place them round fish with 2 olives. Serve with brown bread and butter, a glass of stout or ale, cayenne pepper and brown vinegar.

EELS

The Conger is a fish often overlooked although it is most whole­some and nutritious, and very economical. It is seldom more than 4d. or 5d. per lb.; it is one of the best substitutes for meat.

BAKED CONGER

Take the head and tail from a good-sized fish and put in stew-pan with a small onion, bunch of sweet herbs, sufficient water to cover; stew for ½ hour. Make a stuffing as for veal, and sew in the gullet. Tie the fish round and place in casserole or deep baking dish with some potatoes round. Strain liquor from head, cover with greased paper and bake in moderate oven for 1 hour, keeping it well basted with the liquor. When nearly done, mix 1 tablespoonful of lemon pickle and of chutney with a little ketchup or soy; continue basting and serve very hot. Any remains can be reheated in the sauce or will make a very nice curry.

CURRIED EEL

Conger eel makes an economical, delicious and highly nutritious dish if cooked in this way. Choose the middle cut of fish, wash and cut into pieces about 3 to 4 in. thick. Put these to simmer in enough milk and water to just cover. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Mean­while, peel and fry an onion, slice into thin rounds; peel 3 or 4 mushrooms and fry these together in a little oil or butter until the onions are a golden brown (but not darker). Now mix together 2 oz. of flour and 1 tablespoonful curry powder with ½ to ¾ pint milk and water. Strain liquor from fish into this and cook until it boils. Butter a fireproof dish, place fish in this with onions - mushrooms arranged on top, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce - which should not be thick - over all and place in oven for a few minutes. Serve in dish.

ANGUILLES AU VERT

Eels and sorrel in proportion of a good handful of sorrel to 1 each of eels, sprig of parsley, 1 finely chopped onion. Melt some butter in a fireproof casserole, and in it put sorrel, parsley and onion; simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add eels cut in short lengths; season with pepper and salt, and cook gently for hour. Serve cold.

POTTED EEL

Mix flour, spice, salt and pepper and dip the slices of eel into the mixture, coating them on both sides. Put them into a greased baking dish and pour the vinegar and water round them. Put a few pieces of dripping on top and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour, or until fish is cooked. Serve cold.

CONGER MENTONE

Thoroughly cleanse the conger and cut into nice pieces. Place in a pan 2 oz. of butter, ½ lb. small onions, or 2 large ones, a bunch of herbs, and 6 peppercorns. Lay the fish in this and let fry about 15 minutes; then sprinkle in tablespoonful flour, ½ oz. of bovril or glaze, ¾ pint of claret or white wine. Simmer all gently about ½ hour. Then take up the fish and keep hot, also onions (if small ones were used). Add to the ingredients in the pan ¼ pint brown sauce, reboil and strain. Heat again till well boiling; pour all over the hot fish and decorate with fried croûtons and the onions, and, if possible, a few mushrooms. Some small crisp rolls of bacon can also be added. For a variation small, very hot and highly seasoned force­meat balls may be served with the fish.

BAKED CONGER EEL

Take as many cutlets of conger eel as required. Mix together a few breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoonful each of grated cheese, chopped parsley, onion and flour, also a seasoning of salt and pepper. Coat the cutlets with this and place in a shallow baking dish. Pour over some melted butter or dripping and bake for about ½ hour. Send to table with a brown piquant sauce, parsnips and mashed potatoes.

BROILED EELS WITH SAGE

Cleanse the eel and cut it into finger lengths; rub it with a season­ing of salt and pepper, and leave for ½ hour. Wipe it dry, wrap each length in sage leaves and fasten them round the fish with coarse thread. Roll the eel in good salad oil or clarified butter, lay it in the pan, squeeze lemon juice over and broil until it is browned in every part. Send to table with a sauce made of 2 oz. butter, a tablespoonful of chilli, tarragon or common vinegar, and 1 of water, with a little salt. Roll the butter in 1 oz. of flour, then melt in a saucepan and add the other ingredients, taking care it does not get lumpy.

EEL AND BACON

Take some slices of conger eel and steam until tender. Line a pie dish with some very fat bacon, then place on this the steamed conger, sprinkle with chopped parsley and seasoning. Boil and mash some potatoes, add a little butter, salt and pepper, and bind together with a white of a egg. Spread this over the other ingre­dients in the dish, cover with a well greased paper and bake for 40 minutes.

EEL PIE

Skin and wash the eels, cut into pieces 2 in. long, and line bottom of pie dish with forcemeat. Put in the eels and sprinkle with parsley, shallot, nutmeg, and lemon juice and seasoning, and cover with puff paste. Bake for 1 hour or rather more, make the gravy hot, pour into pie and serve.

STEWED EELS WITH SAUCE MATELOTE

Procure as large eels as possible, cut into pieces 3 in. long. Put them into a saucepan with 1 onion, 2 bay leaves, a small piece of thyme and parsley, 6 cloves, a blade of mace, a glass of sherry, and 2 of water. Place stew-pan over moderate heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or according to size of eels. When done, dress them upon a dish and pour matelote sauce over. Use liquor from eels for sauce. To make matelote sauce: Peel 30 button onions and put ½ teaspoonful of sugar in a quart-sized stew-pan, place over sharp heat and, when melted and getting brown, add ½ oz. of butter and the onions; toss them over now and then until brown, then add glass of sherry. Let it boil, then add about ¾ pint of liquor from eels. Simmer until onions are tender, add a little salt and sugar.

STEWED EELS

Take 1½ lb. of fresh eels, skin them and cut them up into pieces about 1 in. long, cover with clean water and wash well, afterwards put them in a saucepan and cover with water, add pepper and salt, also 1 onion stuck with cloves. When done add 1 dessertspoonful of flour mixed to a paste with a wineglassful of port wine, and stir well until it thickens. Serve on a hot dish, garnish with parsley and lemon.

EELS À LA TARTARE

Rub the butter on the bottom of the stew-pan, cut up the carrot and onion and stir them over the fire for 5 minutes; dredge in a little flour, add the wine and seasoning and stir for ½ hour. Cut up the eels, put them to the other ingredients and simmer till tender. When cold, cover them with egg and breadcrumb and fry a nice brown, and serve with piquante sauce.

DRIED CONGER

Take a conger weighing 3 to 6 lb. Split carefully lengthwise down the whole front as close to the bone as possible, keeping the flesh intact. Remove the bone. This leaves a long wide fillet of white fish. Spread it out flat and rub in thoroughly about 1 oz. common kitchen salt to each lb. of fish. Roll up and place in a deep dish for 4 hours. Then spread it open and shake off any superfluous salt. Do not wash it. Make a slit at each corner of one end and hang up in a draughty place to dry. This will take 2 or 3 days. When perfectly dry and stiff it can be kept hanging in a dry place for a week or longer. When wanted, cut pieces as required and toast on both sides over a clear fire. or under a griller with small lumps of butter scattered over it. Serve in small portions with bread and butter for breakfast, or light supper. The bones and tail, etc. (while fresh), come in for making soup.

FISH GLAZE (OLD VICTORIAN)

This glaze can be used for all kinds of baked fish. Put a head and tail of a large conger eel into a stew-pan with 3 quarts of water, let it simmer for 2½ hours till it breaks to pieces when tried with a fork. Strain through a fine sieve, and pour back the liquor into the stew-pan, with 1 oz. of meat essence. Stir it constantly until it will adhere like jelly to the spoon. Then, immediately, turn out of the stew-pan. The greatest care is required during the time of thickening to prevent it from burning. Put into small jars. When required for use, dissolve it by placing jar in boiling water, and brushing it over the fish several times, when it will form a clear varnish.

STEWED LAMPREY

After cleaning the fish, remove the cartilage which runs down the back, and season with cloves, mace, nutmeg, pepper and allspice. Put in a stewpot with as much beef-gravy and sherry in equal quantities as will cover it. Cover, and stew till tender. Then take out the lamprey and keep it hot, while you boil up the liquor with 2 or 3 anchovies (chopped) and some flour and butter. Strain the gravy through a sieve and add lemon-juice and some made mustard. When there is a spawn it must be fried and put round. To lessen cost leave out the sherry.

KENT WIFE'S DISH

Slice the onion thinly and lay some in the bottom of pie dish, then a layer of potatoes, then the conger eel and pork in 2-in. pieces, another layer of onion and potato (salt sparingly on account of pickled pork), add pint water and bake in moderate oven 1½ hours.

BOILED EELS

Pare a lemon, and strip from it the white pith, slice it, and remove the pips; put it, with a blade of mace, ½ teaspoonful peppercorns, 1 teaspoonful salt and moderate-sized bunch of parsley, into 3 pints of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, then allow to get cold. Then add 3 lb. skinned eels, cut into 3-in. lengths, and simmer them softly for about 20 minutes. Lift them with a slice into a very hot dish, and serve them with parsley and butter acidulated with lemon juice or chilli vinegar, or with a sauce as follows: Into a small saucepan put the yolks of 3 fresh eggs, the juice of a lemon, 3 oz. of butter, a little salt, nutmeg and cayenne and a wineglassful of water. Hold over a clear fire and keep stirred, until it nearly boils. Serve.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY RECIPE

This recipe is taken from a Cookery Book dated 1796 for roasting large eels or lampreys with a pudding in the belly.

Skin eels or lampreys, cut off the head, take the guts out, and scrape the blood clean from the bone. Then make a forcemeat of oysters or shrimps chopped small, the crumbs of a halfpenny loaf, a little nutmeg or lemon peel shred fine, pepper, salt, and the yolks of 2 eggs. Put them in the belly of your fish, sew it up, turn it round your dish, put over it flour and butter, pour a little water on your dish and bake it in a moderate oven. When it comes out, take the gravy from under it, and scum off the fat, then strain it through a hair sieve. Add to it a teaspoonful of lemon pickle, 2 of browning, a meat-spoonful of walnut catchup, a glass of white wine, anchovy and a slice of lemon; let it boil 10 minutes, thicken it with butter and flour, send it up in a sauceboat with your fish. Garnish with lemon and crisp parsley.

FISH SALADS

FISH AND ORANGE SALAD

Flake any cold boiled fish. Dust lightly with salt and pepper and pile on crisp lettuce in centre of dish. Free oranges from peel and pith, and cut into thin rounds with saw-edged stainless knife. Dip each round of orange into simple French dressing (lemon juice and olive oil). Drain and arrange as garnish round fish and lettuce. Serve mayonnaise separately.

TURBOT RAGOUT ICED

First free a ripe tomato from pips, cut it up and add to it a tea­spoonful of French capers, 3 tablespoonfuls of cooked turbot in shreds, a little tarragon vinegar and a little pale aspic. Stir over ice until just beyond the liquid point, then take some steel moulds and fill them. Set them in an ice cave to cool.

FISH MAYONNAISE

Boil some even slices of rock salmon or halibut in a little water with salt and lemon juice added. When cooked take out gently, and drain on a wire rack. When cold cover each slice with some thick mayonnaise sauce, dish up surrounded with crisp lettuce leaves, sliced cucumber, cress and quartered tomatoes.

FISH SALAD

Cold cooked fish such as cod, hake, etc., cold potatoes, peas or beans; little raw apple. Dressing made of 3 dessertpoonsfuls of oil to 1 of vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs. Mix fish (flaked) with potatoes cut into small pieces, peas and raw apple, add chopped whites of egg (chopped gherkin may also be added if liked). Pour over dressing, to which has been added yolk of eggs, and sprinkle a little white of egg on top.

FISH MOULD WITH SALAD

Flake finely ½ lb. of cold boiled skate or sea-bream, add pepper, salt, grated lemon rind and chopped parsley to taste. Make a stiff sauce from 2 oz. cornflour, and 1 pint of milk and water. When sauce has boiled for 10 minutes, stir into it the seasoned fish and mix well. Pour into a well-rinsed mould and stand overnight. Then turn out and serve with salad.

HERRING SALAD (as made in Sweden)

Skin, clean, cook and split and bone 2 large herrings; lay the sides along a bowl. Arrange in symmetrical order over the fish, slices of cooked beetroot, cold sliced potatoes and pickled gherkins. Add 1 apple grated or chopped very fine, and the yolks and whites, minced separately, of 2 boiled eggs. Place these last ingredients in small heaps of contrasting colours on the surface of the salad, and round the bowl lay a border of curled celery leaves and parsley. Cover with a tartar sauce made of the yolk of a hard-boiled egg rubbed smooth with oil first and then vinegar added until a thick mayonnaise is produced. A little thick sour cream improves this.

DUTCH HERRING SALAD

Cut the potato into dice, together with the apple, gherkins, beet­root and onion, all well seasoned, and then mix in the mustard dressing made as follows: Place the mustard in a basin and work this up with the oil and vinegar to form a creamy sauce like mayon­naise; then put in the other ingredients and mix well. Arrange this salad on an oblong-shaped dish and place fillets of herring over it. Use hard-boiled eggs and gherkins cut small to garnish.

FISH SOUPS AND STEWS

STEWED FISH

Cut up any kind of cheap fish into small pieces, and lay on some salt for 1 hour. Then fry 1 or 2 onions in a little salad oil; lay the fish on top of the onions, and pour over a mixture of 2 eggs beaten, sufficient flour to thicken, a piece of ginger, and the juice of 1 lemon. Stew gently for ¾ hour.

FISH IN BROTH

Place in a pan 1 gill of milk, 1 gill of water, 1 small glass of red or white table wine, 6 tiny onions, 1 sliced carrot, juice of ½ lemon, pepper and salt. Simmer for ½ hour and thicken with a little cornflour. Now put in the fish and gently cook till done. Cod, hake, halibut or any white fish steaks are suitable.

INEXPENSIVE FISH SOUP

Get either a small cod's head and shoulders, or 2 good-sized haddocks. Cut out the solid pieces of meat and put them on one side, and put the remainder in a saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water, 2 carrots, 1 small turnip, 2 onions, 1 stick of celery, and a sprig of mint, all cut small. Boil for 2 hours, then strain; add a piece of butter the size of an egg, ½ pint of milk, salt to taste, and boil up once. Thicken with flour, add the pieces of fish, and boil for 5 minutes.

NOURISHING FISH SOUP

Take 1 lb. of ling, or bream, ½ lb. potatoes, 1 onion, 1 gill milk and 1 oz. butter or dripping. Clean the fish and cut it up small. Peel and slice the potatoes and onion, melt the fat in the saucepan, put in the vegetables when hot, cook over heat for a few minutes. Then add the fish, also 1 quart of boiling water, and cook slowly till tender. Rub the soup through a sieve or colander, and return to the saucepan; season with salt and pepper to taste. Now add the milk to the soup, boil up and serve. A little chopped parsley may be added before serving.

WATER SOUCHY

You can use perch, tench, eels or flounders for this dish. To make the souchy put some water in a stew-pan with a bunch of chopped parsley, carrots, turnips, and salt to taste. Let this simmer for 1 hour, then stew the fish in this water. When they are done take them out to drain. Have ready some chopped parsley and some roots cut in slices about 1 in. thick. Put the fish in tureen and strain the liquor over them; add roots and chopped parsley. Serve with brown bread and butter.

CONGER SOUP

Put conger in saucepan and cover with water, add vegetables and cook until tender. Remove fish on to dish and keep hot, add butter and chopped parsley, mix flour and milk, add to the liquor, stirring till it comes to boil; simmer few minutes, add salt at last, not to curdle milk. Place slices of bread in tureen and pour the soup over. Serve fish with egg sauce.

FISH SOUP

Boil 2 fair-sized haddocks (previously cleaned and scraped) in 1 pint of water, for 30 minutes. Strain, remove all bones and skin from fish, and return to pan with stock and 1 small finely chopped onion. Simmer for 10 minutes and add 3 teacupfuls milk, pepper and salt to taste, and thicken with 1 tablespoonful cornflour. Just before serving, add some finely chopped parsley. Sufficient for 4 persons.

GENERAL

STEWED FISHCAKES

For this recipe any cheap fish can be used, such as haddock, cod or hake. Cut off all the flesh of any fish liked (about 2 lb.), put this with 1 onion through mincer; add 1 beaten egg, pepper and salt to taste; mix well. If too soft, add some stale breadcrumbs. Form into flat cakes about ½ in. in thickness. Cut up 2 good-sized onions, place in an enamel saucepan, on top, place the fishcakes; cover them with boiling water, boil up quickly, then cook slowly for hour. Add 1 lump of sugar, some pepper and salt to taste. Continue cook­ing for another hour. Leave all in pan till quite cold, then lift out cakes carefully, rub the stock through strainer and pour over fish. It should be eaten cold. These fishcakes are equally good if dipped in eggs and breadcrumbs and fried.

FISH CHOWDER

Fry 1 lb. of pickled pork, cut it into very small pieces, mince large Spanish onion, fry in butter or dripping till it is all deep brown. Put half of this at the bottom of a saucepan, have some mashed potatoes ready, put a thick layer of them over it, then over that put some thick slices of uncooked fish - turbot, cod or hake, about 3 lb. in weight. Put the remainder of pork and onions, and on top a second layer of potatoes, season with ½ nutmeg (grated), 1 tablespoonful of savoury herbs, thyme, marjoram, parsley, 1 teaspoonful of powdered mace, 6 cloves, 6 peppercorns, salt; pour over all of it ½ bottle of claret, some ketchup and sufficient water to cover it, let it simmer gently until the fish is cooked. This makes a most delicious dish.

FISH À LA SOUFFLÉ WALNUTS

Take a piece (about 2 lb.) of any firm white fish. Wash, bone and skin, wrap in floured cloth and plunge into quickly boiling water to which 1 teaspoonful salt and a squeeze of lemon juice have been added. Boil for 25 minutes. Meanwhile make a soufflé as follows: Melt in a saucepan 1 oz. butter or margarine, stir in 1 oz. sifted flour, and, when incorporated, blend in ¼ pint milk. Stir until mixture becomes of creamy thickness. Remove from gas ring and pour into large bowl. Add yolks of 2 eggs, then mix gently, afterwards adding the stiffly whipped whites of the eggs. Again stir gently, seasoning with a dash of red pepper. Drain fish, and place in a buttered casserole and pour over it the prepared soufflé. Sprinkle freely with grated shelled walnuts, and place in moderate oven for 20 minutes. Serve with caper sauce to which has been added teaspoonful tarragon vinegar.

FISH DOUGH-NUTS

The following is a useful method of using up remains of any boiled fish, and provides a tasty dish for supper or breakfast. Take remains of fish and put through a mincer, season well with salt and pepper, roll into little balls and cover with dough, fry to a nice golden brown (in deep fat like dough-nuts). When done, dredge with salt and serve hot. Dough can be bought from any baker for a few pence.

A CORNISH PASTY MADE WITH FISH

Roll out a piece of pastry the size of a tea plate on which place a good layer of thinly sliced raw potatoes, then the cooked fish and chopped parsley, and onion if liked, season well, and pour over a good spoonful of Cornish cream. If the cream is unobtainable use several small lumps of butter, or margarine. Draw edges together on one side and crimp in Cornish fashion, and cook until the pastry is well browned.

UNUSUAL FISH MEAL

Get a suitable size jar and as much raw filleted fish as is required. Well butter the inside of the jar, then put in a layer of fish with a small piece of butter (not margarine), a little salt, pepper, a very tiny pinch of mixed herbs. Next lay some potatoes and celery (chopped fine), with a little pepper and salt, then another layer of fish the same as before; next a layer of onion and carrot, and turnip chopped fine with small piece of butter. Finish with layer of fish. No water required. Cover the jar securely and steam for 2½ hours. Turn out and serve very hot with tureen of white sauce made with all milk. When runner beans are in season these may be added, chopped fine.

CREAMED FISH WITH BAKED CUCUMBERS

Cut the cucumbers in halves lengthwise without paring. Place in a saucepan, cover with salted water (boiling), and boil until they begin to get tender. Lift carefully and drain. Fill with creamed fish, cover the top with breadcrumbs and place in a baking pan Place in the oven until browned on top. Serve.

SILVER POLLOCK WITH CURRY AND EGG SAUCE

Cook gently in slightly salted water 1½ lb. of silver pollock, taking care not to break it. Drain well and place on a hot dish and pour quickly over it about pint of sauce made as follows: Melt 1 oz. of butter, add to it ½ oz. flour, and 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder. Cook and stir well for 1 minute or 2; then remove from fire and add gradually ¼ pint each of milk and fish stock. Add to it 2 roughly chopped hard-boiled eggs, and pepper and salt to taste. Replace on fire, bring to the boil and cook until it thickens, stirring all the time. This dish is delicious either hot or cold.

Another Way. Another excellent way of serving this fish, or gurnet, is equally nice. Cook the fish as above, free it from all skin and bone, flake it up very finely, season with pepper and salt and work into it sufficient cream until it becomes a soft and creamy mass. Have ready some well-greased scallops and place a little of the mixture in the middle of each. Pour over each one some plain melted butter sauce to which has been added a dessertspoonful of very finely chopped onion and a little anchovy sauce to colour a pretty pink. Then sprinkle on the top a little grated cheese, and finish by piping round the edges of each scallop a little mashed and sieved potato. Place in a fairly hot oven for about 10 minutes and serve at once.

FISHCAKES À LA FRANÇAISE

Soak the bread in milk, squeeze as dry as possible, beat with a fork, add fish flaked, seasoning, 1 egg and melted butter. Make into small flat cakes, brush over with egg and cover with bread-crumbs and fry in hot dripping. When cool, serve each fish cake on a large crisp lettuce leaf, with sliced cucumber, tomato, etc., piled up round it on the leaf. Pour over salad dressing.

MATELOTE VIERGE

A matelote is generally composed of several kinds of fish, but this recipe would do with one kind only. Take for instance: 1 eel, 1 carp, and 1 bream, or any fish that can easily be cut in small slices. Wash, clean and cut in slices the three fish. Place them in a sauce­pan with salt, pepper, a little butter and a "bouquet garni" (parsley, thyme and laurel tied together); add enough water and white wine to cover them, in the proportion of ⅓ water to ⅔ wine. (White wine could be replaced by a little vinegar, but there would be more water in proportion.) Let it boil for 20 minutes and set aside. Fry a few small onions in butter, together with small mushrooms. (The last-named are put aside when fried.) Add 2 to 3 tablespoonfuls of flour and continue to stir; add pepper, sugar, and nutmeg, and gradually the water from the fish. Let this stew (or ragoût), boil until it thickens and until the onions are well cooked. To bind the lot: add 1 or 2 yolks of eggs. Place your fish in the middle of a dish. Pour the ragoût over it, and decorate carefully around with fried croûtons of bread and the fried mushrooms. Serve quite hot.

FRENCH FISH RISSOLES

The remains of any kind of fish. To each breakfast cup of fish allow ½ tablespoonful of nut butter, ½ breakfast cup of freshly cooked mashed potatoes, 1 teaspoonful of chopped onion, 1 tea­spoonful of chopped parsley, 1 rasher of bacon, 1 egg, salt and pepper to taste. Mince the bacon and fish, add nut butter, mashed potatoes, onion and parsley. Beat up egg, mix this with fish and other ingredients; leave 1 hour to set firm, then make into rissoles. Dip these in egg and breadcrumbs, fry a delicious light brown.

OLD FRENCH CREOLE RECIPE FOR BAKED FISH

This delicious dish can be made of any medium-sized fish with firm flesh. To prepare it the following are required:

Rub the fish with salt and pepper and put some butter in a rather deep pan, with the minced onion, bay leaf and thyme. Lay the fish in on top and pour over ½ pint of white wine. Cover and bake on the shelf of the oven. When the sauce begins to boil, turn the fish carefully. Make a roux in a pan of butter and flour and let it brown. Add the tomatoes, skinned and chopped, the mushrooms, the shrimps which have been scalded, and seasoning to taste. Let cook about 5 minutes, then add some of the sauce from the fish, stir well. Put the fish on fireproof dish and surround with pieces of toast. If oysters are used (they can be omitted), parboil them. Place on the toast. Cover fish with the shrimps, chopped parsley and cracker crumbs. Pour the sauce over all and dot with butter. Brown in the oven and garnish with parsley and slices of lemon.

FISH WITH COCONUT SAUCE

The only unusual ingredient in this delicious Indian dish is the "coconut milk", which can be easily made (in lieu of the fresh article) by boiling rapidly together for 20 minutes ½ cupful of desic­cated coconut with 2 cupfuls water, then pressing every drop of liquid out through a strainer.

The recipe for the dish is as follows: Fry lightly 4 cutlets of fish well sprinkled with salt and coated with flour. Make a smooth white sauce with 1 generous tablespoonful of butter, the same of flour, and 1 cupful milk. Add 1 cupful "coconut milk" and season with salt, pepper (preferably cayenne) and a pinch of ground ginger. Carefully add the golden-brown fish, and simmer gently about 15 minutes before serving.

FISH SHAPE

Boil the vegetables and cut into slices. Flake the fish, add salt and pepper, form into an oval shape. Arrange the vegetables over the fish shape in rows. Place the peas over the shape and around the dish, and pour over the mayonnaise dressing.

BOUILLABAISSE

Any sort of small fish, such as flounders, little whitings, slips and dabs, the greater variety the better. Take the flesh from the bones in the form of little fillets, set them aside, and for 2 lb. of mixed fish trimmings, well chopped, slice up 4 oz. of tomatoes, and mince 6 oz. of onions, 3 oz. of carrot, 1 oz. of parsley and ½ oz. of celery (or ½ teaspoonful of bruised celery seed). Put all into a stew-pan (which has been rubbed with a clove of garlic), and 1 dessertspoonful of mixed dried herbs tied in a muslin bag. Finally add 1 tablespoonful of salad oil and ½ oz. of salt. Cover with 1 quart of water, bring to the boil by degrees over a gentle heat, skim and simmer slowly for 45 minutes. During the simmering, put in 1 small teaspoonful of saffron powder, and when it is finished strain off the broth into a clean stew-pan. Bring it almost to the boil, then slip in the fillets of fish, adding a good bunch of parsley roughly chopped. Simmer until the fish is done, then pour the bouillabaisse into a tureen which has been lined with slices of bread dried in the oven without colouring.

If liked one kind of fish only can be used, filleted and cut into small pieces. The most suitable are the cheap fish, like hake, ling, skate, gurnet and any fresh-water fish.

HOME-MADE IMITATION OF "SOLE NORMANDE"

When mussels are to be had this is delicious. Wash 1 dozen mussels well, and pull off the threads hanging to the shells. Put the fish in a stew-pan with 1 small sliced onion, 3 or 4 sprigs of parsley, and the juice of ½ lemon, toss over a brisk fire until the shells open, when they will be cooked; strain the liquor into a small bowl, take the fish from their shells, remove beards and keep mussels in their liquor until wanted. Now lay 1 plump sole in a buttered fireproof dish, season with pepper and salt and a little lemon juice; dot on some pieces of butter, pour over 1 glass of white wine, cover with buttered paper, and bake for about ½ hour, basting 3 or 4 times. When done, heat the mussels in their liquor, add the sauce from the sole with a large nut of butter mixed smoothly with 1 teaspoonful of flour, and cook very gently until thick and smooth; add 1 spoonful of thick cream, mix well, pour over the sole and serve.

FISH EN SURPRISE

Prepare some neat fillets of fish, cod or sole for preference, lay in a shallow tin, partly cover with water, a little pepper and salt and some very thin pieces of lemon peel, cover with buttered paper and allow to steam till only just cooked. Make a good white sauce with the strained liquor, adding a little cream and butter. Now care­fully lift up fillets, put into a pyrex or fireproof shallow dish and pour over the sauce. Keep very hot in oven till within about 5 minutes of serving, when pour over the omelette mixture (as below). Put small pieces of butter over top, and allow to finish off in oven. Serve quickly. Two or three mushrooms cut up small and added to sauce is a great improvement.

Separate the yolks and whites of 2 or 3 eggs, add to yolks ½ gill cream, some pepper and salt to taste, a very little chopped parsley and thyme; well whip, then add the whites which have been whipped very stiffly; lightly mix together and use.

BROWN FRICASSEE OF FISH

Halibut, conger-eel, or cod, is suitable. Cut 2 lb. of fish into small blocks, flour over the pieces and fry a nice brown in hot fat in flat pan. Lift out the pieces and keep hot. Pour the fat out of pan and put 1 oz. of butter and 1 oz. of flour, stir till it is brown. Pour in ½ pint of good fish stock, which can be made with the bone and trimmings of the fish; add season­ing, pinch of cayenne, 1 teaspoonful of ketchup, juice of ½ lemon and salt to taste. Stir till it thickens. Have ready the following: 3 oz. of cut macaroni boiled in salted water, 1 large carrot cut into small squares and cooked, ½ teacupful green peas. Arrange the fish in centre of dish and make a border of the macaroni, carrots and peas (nicely mixed); pour the sauce over the fish and serve.

FISH MOLEY

Chutney and grated coconut should be served with this Indian dish. To prepare it, cover ¼ lb. of desiccated coconut with boiling water, and leave it to soak. In the meantime, fry 2 oz. of sliced onion, in the same quantity of dripping. Add ½ teaspoonful of powdered tumeric or saffron, the strained coconut water, a small piece of green ginger, 1 teaspoonful of sliced chillies, 1 lb. of cooked fish, cut up in small pieces, 1 tablespoonful of vinegar and a little salt. Simmer the whole till it thickens, and heap it to the centre of a dish. Arrange round it a border of boiled rice.

NICE FISH PIE

Clean and bone the tench, skin and bone the eels, cut into 2 in. pieces, but leave the sides of tench whole. Put bones into stew-pan with the onions, herbs, mace, and anchovies, water and seasoning and simmer for 1 hour. Strain liquor to cool and skim off fat. Lay the eels and tench in a pie dish and between each layer of fish put seasoning, parsley, and chopped eggs. Pour in part of strained liquor, cover with the pastry and bake rather more than ½ hour in quick oven. Heat remainder of liquor and pour into pie.

CHOPPED FISH BALLS

To obtain the best result use mixed fish as example: haddock, whiting and codling (equal proportions of each). Chop fish very finely adding onion, seasoning, biscuits and, gradually, ½ tumbler of cold water. Mix in beaten egg and form into balls (about 8). Cut 1 in. strips of skin and wrap one around each ball. Place bones in a pan with ½ pint seasoned water and carrot. When liquid boils, add fish balls and boil gently for 1 hour, keeping pan covered. Serve fish hot with the following sauce poured over in the serving dish. Sauce: To ½ pint milk add 1 oz. butter, the liquid from boiled fish and 1 dessertspoonful flour. Boil over slow heat until mixture thickens. Average cost 1s. 3d. Sufficient for 4 persons.

"CHUPI"

This South American fish dish is delicious and is prepared as follows: Warm up some milk in a casserole, add rice; when half done add some new potatoes, a dash of cayenne pepper, salt, a small piece of butter, or a little salad oil, sliced onion, and as many tomatoes as desired. Let this finish cooking and, while it is doing so, fry some fillets of fish until nicely browned. Stir in the stew 1 whipped egg, and then drop in your fried fish and serve.

ST. DAVID'S PIE

Take a deep fireproof dish, lay the leeks in first, then the fish with salt and pepper; next the white sauce; cover with the grated cheese. Over all put a thick layer of breadcrumbs, dot over with pieces of butter, and brown under the grill or in the oven. Serve very hot. Enough for 4 persons.

FISH DELIGHT

Any fish can be used for this delicious dish. Place fish in casserole with butter (or fat) and milk, onion, mush­rooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Allow to cook slowly with occasional basting. Mix flour and mustard with a little water. When fish is nearly cooked remove mushrooms, which set on one side for garnishing. Pour liquor on to flour, stirring all the time, strain through sieve and return to casserole. Serve up surrounded with the mush­rooms; sprinkle with chopped parsley. New potatoes, or any other vegetable, can be served.

FILLETS - ANY KIND OF WHITE FISH BAKED WITH GRAPES

Wipe the fish and put it in a greased pie dish. Make a good white sauce, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, ½ pint fish stock (which can be made from boiling the bones and head with 1 onion, sweet herbs, cloves, a little salt and a few peppercorns). Add 1 small glass of white wine, and season with pepper and salt. Pour this sauce over the fish, and arrange ¼ lb. or more white grapes (skinned and stoned) in a pattern neatly on the top. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or according to size and amount of fish.

ITALIAN PIE

For pastry

Flake the fish, removing skin and bones. Make the sauce in the usual way and add the fish to it. Grease a cake tin about 6 in. in diameter and sprinkle in some brown breadcrumbs. Make the pastry, roll out about ⅔ of it and line the cake tin. Fill it with layers of the fish mixture and the eggs cut in slices. Roll out the other piece of pastry to the exact size of the tin. Moisten the edge and put it on the top. Cover with greased paper and bake for hour in a hot oven. Turn out and garnish with parsley.

S'KREITCH FISH (COLD). (Recipe 1803)

Boil 2 lb. of any kind of white fish (halibut is especially good) in water with thyme, coarsely broken black pepper, 4 medium carrots, 4 small onions, sprig of parsley, 2 tablespoonfuls vinegar. When cooked, allow to get cold, then remove skin and bones and place the flesh in a deep dish. On each layer put wafer slices of raw onion and cooked carrot, a dash of cayenne, 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, salt, black pepper, and a few drops of salad oil. Pour over 1 wineglassful of vinegar and let stand for 3 hours before serving.

SMOKED FISH

Wash and wipe the fish, simmer gently in a little water until sufficiently cooked to flake easily. Then strain and divide into small pieces. Melt butter or margarine into a pan. Add chopped onion and fry till golden brown. Skin the tomatoes, cut into slices and add to the onion. Continue to cook with the onion until the tomatoes are quite soft. Stir in the flaked fish, pepper, salt and chopped parsley, reserving a little for garnish. Blend thoroughly and serve on a hot dish with a border of boiled rice. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley neatly over the top of the fish.

STEWED FISH BALLS

The flesh of 2 or 3 of the following kinds: haddock, whiting, bream, baby haddock, is chopped up together, with continued addition of water to soften, some onion, whole raw egg, salt and pepper, and - if desired (but unnecessary with hake, which is of itself rich enough) a drop of salad oil - (breadcrumbs are also optional), till a soft but firm mass is arrived at, which can be rolled into balls. Placed in a pan of water, with onion and carrot, and salt and pepper to taste, a low light for 1½ hours will bring same to perfection, with the water forming an appetising gravy. Serve hot or cold, with mustard, or horse-radish sauce.

GURNET

FILLETS OF GURNET WITH MACARONI

Lay the fillets on a plate, place another plate on top and weights on top of that to flatten the fillets. Make a broth of the heads and remains of the fish, and thicken with a little butter and flour, adding if liked, a spoonful of tomato preserve. Strain the sauce when it is cooked. Take ¼ lb. boiled macaroni and place a layer at the bottom of a greased fireproof dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese, lay the fillets on top, shake more cheese over them, place another layer of macaroni and shake more cheese on top. Moisten with the broth. Finish with bits of butter on top and bake brown in a sharp oven. Any broth left can be served as sauce.

GURNET HOT-POT

Drain the liquid from tomatoes and place half of them (cut in half or quartered) in a deep fireproof dish, lay half the fish on them and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and onion. Sprinkle a good layer of breadcrumbs on top, then put another layer of tomatoes and fish and seasoning. Finish with a layer of breadcrumbs and sliced tomato, and put the margarine in small pieces on top. Cover dish with greased paper and bake it for about 30 minutes. Take away paper for the last 10 minutes. Serve in the dish in which it has been cooked. Sufficient for 4 people.

BAKED POLLACK

This nourishing and most inexpensive fish can be very delicious cooked in the following way. It is most inexpensive and can be bought in most seaside places for fourpence per lb. In town it may cost a trifle more.

Split fish and put on to either a flat enamel dish, or plate, or on to one of the flat casserole dishes. Place small pieces of margarine all over it and a little pepper and salt, and 1 gill of milk. Cook for 10 minutes, then make a good white sauce from the liquor that has come from fish, by melting about 1 oz. of margarine and adding 1 tablespoonful of flour, stirring until smooth, then adding liquor from fish. Stir until boiling, then add about 1 oz. of cheese, or 2 chedlets will do. Pour over fish, then cover with mashed potatoes and bake until brown in very hot oven. This makes a good sub­stantial meal without being too heavy.

BAKED GURNET

Take slices of gurnet 1 inch thick, lay in a greased baking dish, put 1 tablespoonful of the following sauce over it: 2 oz. of butter or margarine, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, ½ pint of milk. Melt butter, add flour, then milk, stirring until it boils for a few minutes. Add pepper and salt to taste, and 1 dessertspoonful of capers chopped, or horseradish grated, then place a slice of ham or bacon on top of piece of fish. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.

GURNET PIE

Boil the parsnips until tender, mash them with a little butter. Boil the gurnets for 20 minutes, then remove the bones and place the fish on the mashed parsnips in a deep pie-dish. Skin the toma­toes and place on the fish, with a cupful of milk, and bake for 15 minutes. This makes a change and a nice dish for 6 people.

GURNET AND BREAM

Wash the fish and remove the fins and scales, place in boiling salted water and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove fish from the bones and place the fish in the following mixture: breadcrumbs enough to thicken 1 pint milk, ½ juice of lemon, 2 oz. butter, a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Boil all together for a few minutes, then mix 1 egg and place the whole in a well-buttered earthenware dish, and cover with breadcrumbs and little lumps of butter, and put in the oven to brown.

GURNET GRILLED (à l'huile)

Remove the gills and intestines, but not the liver. Make a marinade with some chopped onion, shallot, parsley, pepper and salt, and oil. Well rub this into the fish and leave them in it for 1½ to 3 hours. Take them out and grill them on both sides for 10 minutes. Remove the liver and mash it with a spoon, mixing in a little oil, juice of lemon and chopped parsley, and pour the whole over the fish, and serve.

FILLETS OF GURNET

Clean and fillet a fair-sized gurnet, cut each fillet in halves and arrange fish in a baking tin. In a small saucepan, melt 4 oz. of margarine, lemon juice, salt and pepper; when mixed, pour this stock over the fish and cook in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Next, chop an onion, parsley, and lemon rind, and put in a pan with a little milk and flour, and beat to a sauce. Arrange the fish on a deep dish, and put the dressing around edge, and decorate with parsley and lemon. This served with snowed potatoes makes an excellent dinner. The same dish may be served in a flan of short pastry.

Dish suggested by Pepys in his diary: Gurnet was evidently well known 300 or 400 years ago. Shakespeare makes Falstaff speak of it. And the following delicious dish was suggested by the sausage Pepys so delighted in, made of hard boiled egg and garnet's blood.

To make this simple dish: clean and dry the fish, rub with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Place it in a greased fireproof dish, cover with a buttered paper, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked. Then carefully remove the flakes of fish from the bones and skin. Now take a greased au gratin dish and fill with first a layer of breadcrumbs, slices of hard boiled egg and capers, then flakes of fish, and so on, until the dish is full. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with breadcrumbs and the now melted butter or margarine. Bake till a deep golden brown. Garnish with slices of tomato and watercress. Serve at once.

GURNET, STUFFED AND BAKED

Make a stuffing of 1 large cupful breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoonful melted fat, 1 teaspoonful each of chopped onion, parsley, and pickles; also some tomato purée, pepper and salt.

Choose 2 gurnets of medium size, clean them, leaving the heads on. Season inside with pepper, salt, and a little lemon juice, and then prepare the stuffing. Mix all ingredients together, moistening with the melted fat and enough sieved tomato to bind. Season well, put into the opening of the fish, and sew up or fasten with small skewers. Place the fish in a greased baking dish, put some strips of fat bacon on the top, and pour round a little hot water or stock. Bake in a moderate oven, basting occasionally with the liquid, as gurnet is inclined to be dry. Serve hot, garnished with sliced lemon and parsley, and with mustard sauce or any other savoury sauce.

GURNET AU GRATIN

Scale, clean, and fillet the gurnet. Cut each fillet into half, and put into a buttered baking tin. Season with pepper, salt, and lemon juice. Add ½ pint of water, cover with buttered paper, and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. While the fish is cooking, make a sauce as follows: Melt 1 oz. of butter in a pan, and add ¾ oz. of flour. Cook for a few minutes without letting the flour brown, add ½ pint of milk, and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Boil gently for about 10 minutes, and then add 1½ oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

When the fish is ready, arrange it on a hot dish, and garnish with the picked shrimps. Pour the sauce over it, sprinkle with cheese, and a little melted butter, and put the dish into the oven to brown. When ready for the table, add some cooked asparagus tips. Tinned asparagus is excellent for this, or the asparagus may be omitted if preferred.

BRAISED GURNET

Scale, clean, and fillet the gurnet. Slice 2 shallots and 1 carrot, and sauté them in a little butter, then put them into a fairly large casserole. Place the fish on top of the vegetables, and season with salt and pepper. Add 1½ gills of white stock, or water, and 6 pepper­corns. Cover with a piece of buttered paper and then put on the lid. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the fish is ready. When cooked arrange the fish on a hot dish and keep warm. Strain the liquor in the casserole into a pan, and add 1 gill of tomato purée. Boil for a few minutes, and then add the juice of half a lemon, ½ teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and 1 oz. of butter. The butter must be added in little pieces, putting in one at a time, or the sauce will oil. Pour this sauce over the fish and serve.

A COLD DISH

Take a nice size gurnet and cut into cutlets, put in stew-pan, peel onion (1 large), salt, pepper to taste; partly cover with water, bring to boil and simmer until done. While waiting for same to cook, put 2 tablespoonfuls of flour in basin, add the juice of 6 lemons, 3 well beaten eggs, pinch of mace, ½ teaspoonful of ground ginger, little salt, and 2d. of saffron; mix together; pour off ½ water from fish, and add the remaining ½ to ingredients in basin, pour over fish, and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve cold. Sprinkle with parsley.

BAKED GURNET

Clean, and cut off heads; rub a deep dish with butter, mince finely some parsley, chives, and sweet herbs, season with pepper and salt. Put a layer of this mixture at the bottom of the dish, then put in the fish, and cover with the same seasoning. Put dabs of butter on fish and melt, then cover with fine breadcrumbs, and bake. A sauce should be made from chopped chives and parsley (with mushrooms, and truffles if obtainable), seasoned with pepper and salt. Moisten with fresh broth, and simmer over gentle heat until herbs are done. Thicken with a piece of butter kneaded in flour, and when the fish is baked a fine brown, pour the sauce into a dish, and lay the gurnet round it.

HADDOCK

NEW ZEALAND FISH RECIPE

Stew 1 medium sized haddock for 10 minutes, then flake well. Boil 2 eggs till hard and separate yolks and whites. Pulp 2 tomatoes with a little cream (milk will do) and 1 whisked egg. Chop the whites of the boiled eggs and mix these with the fish, tomatoes and ¼ cup breadcrumbs. Season well. Toast as many half-slices of bread as are required and butter well, then put the mixture on each in a little mound, decorate with the pulped yolks and just before popping into the oven put 2 or 3 drops of vinegar on them. Bake so that they may be thoroughly heated, but not browned. If wanted specially nice butter sufficient patty pans and then line With yolk paste and fill with mixture and bake for 20 minutes, serving with hot buttered toast.

BROILED HADDOCKS, DUTCH FASHION

Wipe a couple of good-sized haddocks till very dry, then let them soak for an hour in the following marinade: A tablespoonful of oil, a teaspoonful of vinegar, a good seasoning of pepper and salt, a bay leaf and half a clove of finely chopped garlic. Grill them over a very clear fire, taking care they do not catch. Serve as soon as done with the following sauce handed separately in a sauce tureen: To a gill of plain white sauce add the yolk of 2 eggs, an ounce of butter and a little pepper and nutmeg; stir rapidly over a very slow fire taking care that the eggs do not curdle. Lastly, add by degrees, a spoonful of finely grated horseradish and a tablespoonful of Tarragon vinegar; continue to stir briskly while adding the above or the sauce will spoil. Let it nearly reach boiling point, then use immediately.

TALMOUSE OF HADDOCK

Make a paste with 2 oz. butter, 1 oz. cheese (Parmesan), 1 oz. cheese (Cheddar), 3 oz. flour, cayenne pepper, yolk of egg for mixing. Rub butter into flour, grate cheese and add with cayenne; make into a stiff dough with egg yolk. Roll out rather thin and cut into rounds. For the filling: 1 smoked haddock; 1 oz, grated cheese; 2 tablespoonfuls white sauce and seasoning. Flake fish and add with other ingredients. Put teaspoonful of this mixture in centre of each round. Fold in shape of "bishops' hats" and cook in quick oven. Dish and garnish with paprika pepper.

HADDOCK STUFFED WITH LIVER

Trim the haddock neatly, cutting tails and fins off, and, with a sharp knife, remove the centre bone of the haddock. Prepare the stuffing by simmering the liver until tender, then mince it finely, add dry ingredients, then the melted butter, and bind together with the egg. Lay the stuffing inside the fish, fold the fish over, and tie with tape. Bake in a greased tin in a moderate oven for 20 minutes basting frequently. Serve with lemon sauce made as follows: 1 tablespoonful of butter, 1 tablespoonful of flour, some grated lemon rind and a little lemon juice, milk, and some chopped parsley. Melt the butter, stir in the flour, add sufficient milk and water the liver was boiled in to form a thick paste, then add parsley, lemon rind, and juice; season and boil up; pour round the haddock. Serve very hot.

HADDOCK SCALLOPS

Mix the haddock, cucumber, onion and parsley. Make a good white sauce of coating consistency, mix the haddock, etc. with a little of the sauce and season well. Grease the scallop shells and place fish mixture in each, making them smooth on top, then coat the fish mixture evenly with sauce. Have the sieved potatoes ready in a saucepan. Add a little warm milk and heat over a low gas until creamy. Add a few drops of sage green colouring (using a skewer for this) and work well in. Next take a forcing bag and pipe the green potatoes round the edges of the shells. This is very effective if well done. The shells can be warmed in the oven, but care should be taken to see that they do not catch, as this would spoil their appearance.

NOTE: This dish can be varied by adding 1 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese to the sauce, and also sprinkling a little on the tops. Then place the shells under the grill for a few minutes to brown. Plain potatoes can be used for this, and the dish should then be served hot.

FINDON HADDOCK WITH CHEESE

Boil fish till tender. Pick meat from all bones and skin, and mix with it the cheese, mustard and seasoning; drop and stir in the cream. Cook this mixture for a few minutes in a lined saucepan, then add an egg well beaten, and boil all together for hour. Serve on squares of buttered toast, garnished with parsley.

HADDOCK RELISH

Melt the butter, chop onion finely, fry it a pale brown, add sliced tomatoes and salt, cook gently for about 20 minutes. Flake fish, removing it from bones and add it with the parsley to the cooked tomatoes. Re-cook for a few minutes. Mash potatoes in usual way; make a border of potatoes round the dish and place the fish mixture in the middle.

MADRAS FISH MOULE

Melt butter in a saucepan and slightly fry the fish. Lift the fish on to a hot plate. Very finely slice and mince the onion and fry it to a light brown colour. Stir in the flour and cook it with the onion and melted butter for a few minutes. Mix the ginger, cayenne, and turmeric powder in a little milk and add this to the ½ pint of milk which add gradually to the other ingredients in the saucepan, stirring all the time. Cook for 5 minutes. Into this thickened sauce place the fish and simmer gently till it is cooked (10 to 15 minutes). Then, before serving, add the juice of the lemon, taking care not to break up the fish. Serve with steamed or boiled rice.

NOTE: Any kind of boned fresh fish or smoked fillets may be used. Turmeric may be omitted. Less or more ginger and cayenne, according to taste, may be used.

SCRAMBLED SMOKED HADDOCK

This is an easily made dish, and very delicious served on toast. Skin 2 fair sized smoked haddocks, and remove the fish from the bones. Chop the fish finely into flakes, and stir the fish into 3 well beaten eggs, seasoning all with salt and pepper to taste. Cook in dripping in the frying-pan, stirring occasionally until ready. Serve on toast with chopped parsley.

HADDOCK "À LA RUSSE"

Well wash and trim 2 medium-sized fresh haddocks. Cut each into 3 pieces. Remove the fish and bones from each piece, being very careful not to break the skins. Chop the fish together with the roes and 1 medium-sized onion, season with salt and pepper, and bind with 1 or 2 eggs. Divide the mixture into 6 portions, and return to the skins. Place a layer of sliced onions at the bottom of a saucepan, carefully put in the fish with more sliced onion on the top, well sprinkle with pepper, add sufficient stock or water to cover, and cook gently for 40 minutes. When done place them in an oblong dish, pour over the stock and put in a cool place to set. Serve with green salad or any bottled sauce.

SAVOURY HADDOCK

Put the fish in a baking tin, cover with water, add salt and gently simmer. When nearly cooked drain off all water. Surround the fish with the beans, bacon and parsley, and pour over the fish the bacon fat. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a moderate oven until the fish has finished cooking and the beans are thoroughly heated. Garnish with parsley.

HADDOCK SUPREME

Prepare a good-sized fresh haddock, boil gently till nearly cooked, place on a large flat dish, open out and remove backbone, etc., sprinkle the one half thickly with finely minced ham, hard boiled egg, and parsley or any other seasoning preferred. Fold the other half of fish over and press firmly together and leave to cool. Then roll out some good pastry, cut 2 pieces a good size larger than the fish, place the fish between the 2 pieces of pastry, pressing edges all round firmly together, brush over with egg, and bake for ½ hour. May be eaten hot or cold.

HADDOCK EN CASSEROLE

Place the butter and onion at the bottom of the casserole, cover this with tomatoes peeled and sliced, and pepper to taste. Add half the dried haddock cut into portions, then the rest of the tomatoes, pepper, and the other portions of haddock. Cover the whole top with slices of bacon; put the lid on, and bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes.

TASTY AND CHEAP

Have the large bone taken out of the fish, and as many of the small ones as possible. Have the fish thoroughly clean, and cut into convenient pieces, and put all through the mincer. Chop the onion and parsley finely, and add to minced fish; add salt and pepper, now add 1 egg and white of the other, and mix all together very thoroughly with a wooden spoon, and make the mixture into balls about the size of an egg. Have some boiling water ready and put the fish balls in, with just enough water to cover the fish. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over, and allow to boil 30 minutes. Take off the gas and allow to cool. Now beat the remaining yolk of egg, and add to contents of saucepan, put over gas for a few minutes to thicken the gravy. This dish can be eaten hot with boiled potatoes for dinner, or is delicious when cold.

NORWEGIAN FISH CREAM

Boil the milk and cream together, then allow to cool. Wash the fish well and dry with a cloth. Fillet and scrape off the flesh from the bones and skin. Put fish into a mortar with the butter, salt, maize and cornflour. Beat for 20 minutes, then add a table­spoonful of the milk and cream which has cooled. Mix well with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes, then add another tablespoonful of milk. Repeat the process adding milk every 5 minutes till the milk is all used and the mixture has become the consistency of cream. Place in a buttered pudding bowl and steam for 1 hour. Turn out and serve with shrimp or parsley sauce.

FISH BRAWN

Flake the filleted haddock in a dish and add the eggs and a tea­cupful of milk. Season with salt and pepper, pour into a well-greased mould, cover with buttered paper, and steam for ¾ hour. Turn out on to a hot dish, decorate with the pickled gherkins, and pour over some parsley sauce. Serve hot or cold.

FISH PUDDING

Scrape all the flesh from tail to head leaving only the skin. Put through a fine mincer. Season with salt and nutmeg. Pound well, add the butter (cold). Continue pounding, adding the eggs 1 at a time. Still pounding, mix in ¼ cup of cream or cold milk, a little at a time, until a smoothly bound paste is formed. Place in a well-greased earthenware dish and steam: for 2 hours. Serve with sauce.

Sauce: Boil skin and bones well, to form stock. Melt ¼ lb. butter in saucepan and add 4 tablespoonfuls of flour, mixing gradually. Add the stock, a little at a time to prevent lumps, until the required thickness is obtained. Boil up and season with 2 glasses of sherry, a little vinegar, sugar and salt to taste.

HADDOCK EGGS

Put the fillets of fish through a mincing machine; season liberally but carefully with salt and pepper, add a dessertspoonful of chopped parsley and bind with one of the uncooked eggs. Divide this mixture into 4 portions, wrap round each of the hard boiled eggs, keeping the shape of the egg. Dip each into egg and breadcrumb and fry in deep frying oil. When a nice golden brown, lift out carefully, drain and cut in halves with a sharp knife. Place each ½ in a little lace paper d'oyley with the cut side uppermost. Place a tiny sprig of parsley on the yolk and sprinkle a very little cayenne pepper on the white of the egg. Arrange carefully in a flat dish, and there is an hors d'œuvre or fish entrée which is at once as fascinating in appearance as it is tasty in despatch. These eggs can be eaten hot or cold.

HALIBUT AND TURBOT

HALIBUT WITH FRENCH SAUCE

Scrape a thick slice of halibut and cut off fins. Wash and dry the fish, and sprinkle over it a little salt and lemon juice. Lay on a thickly buttered tin, cover with buttered paper and bake in a moderate oven for about ½ hour. Place on a very hot dish and pour sauce over. To make the sauce: melt 1 oz. of butter in a pan, stir in 1 dessert­spoonful of flour, add 1½ teaspoonful of fish stock or milk, 1 tea­spoonful of vinegar, 1 teaspoonful of capers (cut up), and pepper and salt. Boil for a few minutes.

AU GRATIN

Take a large halibut's head and take out the gills. With a sharp knife cut round the outside cheek and keep cutting deeper until the whole cheek can be removed from each side. Place in a buttered casserole and on top slices of tomato or mushrooms. Cook 1½ oz. flour in 1 oz. margarine, add ½ pint milk and water, and when it thickens add 1 teaspoonful made mustard, tablespoonful onion jiice, tablespoonful vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour sauce over fish, scatter with crumbs, and bake in a quick oven for hour. Boil rest of head in salted water and remove bones. This can be used for fish cakes or pie.

GRILLED HALIBUT AND TARTARE SAUCE

Clean fish, dry in clean cloth, rub with margarine and sprinkle with salt and pepper, grill carefully under gas or over clear fire for about 8 to 10 minutes according to thickness. Dish on hot dish with serviette. Put on each steak a small piece of "maître d'hôtel butter" made by mixing on a plate the butter, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Serve with tartare sauce made as follows: ½ pint mayonnaise, 1 tablespoonful capers, 2 or 3 peppercorns, 1 table­spoonful gherkin, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful of chopped tarragon and chervil, mince, capers, peppercorns and gherkins together, and then add to the mayonnaise sauce. Lastly mix in the parsley, chervil and tarragon, and serve hot.

HALIBUT AUX CHAMPIGNONS

Sprinkle the fish with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Put in a buttered fireproof dish and cover with greased paper. Bake in a moderate oven for about ½ hour. Prepare the mushrooms, season well and bake on a greased tin until soft. Melt the butter in a sauce­pan and stir in the flour; add the milk and stir until thick. Add the seasoning and yolk of egg, and the white wine. When the fish is cooked, pour over the sauce. Place the mushrooms round the edge of the dish and sprinkle the centre with brown breadcrumbs. Return to the oven until thoroughly hot.

HALIBUT STEAKS IN MILK

Sieve flour, pepper and salt. Wash and dry fish. Coat the fish with the flour and place in a greased baking-dish. Cover with the milk and place in a good oven. Cut onions into slices and fry in oil or butter until delicate brown, keeping slices whole. After fish has baked for 10 minutes, cover with the browned onion, and the bacon cut into strips on the top. Return to the oven and continue baking until fish is done (about 15 minutes.) Serve with the tomatoes baked and cut into sections.

BAKED SOUR CREAM FISH

Remove skin from fish, cut bacon fat into thin strips and thread into fish with larding-needle. Place in well-buttered pan and cover with pieces of butter, grated cheese, salt, pepper, and 1 pint of sour cream. Bake in moderately hot oven and when a crust has formed on the fish, baste well, and add the other pint of cream. Time: about 1 hour. Thicken fluid in pan for sauce.

HALIBUT WITH PICCALILLI SAUCE

Trim and wipe fish and make it as dry as possible, coating it with a little flour. Melt butter in deep frying pan, put in fish and fry it a minute or two on each side, then remove it, and fry the chopped onion till brown. Sprinkle in rice flour, add the piccalilli and blend well together. Then pour in fish stock and stew until boiling, Return fish to pan, cover it closely, and let it simmer until well cooked. To serve: arrange fish neatly on a hot dish, pour the sauce over, and garnish with lemon and parsley. Other kinds of fish can be prepared in same way.

HALIBUT AND LEMON SAUCE

3 lb. of halibut cut into pieces 2 inches wide and 3 or 4 inches long, salt and pepper each piece. Put 2½ or 3 breakfast-cups of milk and an onion into a stew-pan. When the milk boils, put in fish and boil ¼ hour. Take out fish, strain the milk and use 2½ ­breakfast-cups for sauce. Beat 3 eggs with the juice of a lemon and the grated rind, put the milk on the fire, stir in the eggs and keep stirring all the time until it nearly boils (but it must not boil). Pour over fish, ornament with parsley, tomatoes and lettuce. Use either hot or cold.

20 MINUTE HALIBUT

Allow 4 oz. halibut for each person, 1 oz. butter to each 1 lb. fish, lemon juice, salt and pepper, a little grated onion or cheese, 1 tea­spoonful chopped parsley. Grease a fireproof dish or baking dish. Lay fish in, sprinkle with salt and pepper and little lemon juice. Scatter parsley over with a very little grated onion or cheese. Dot butter over and cook pry slowly for about 20 minutes. Dish up with liquor poured round. Baste frequently.

TURBOT AU GRATIN

Scale, clean and wash a small turbot, and have a dish large enough to allow the fish to lie flat. Round it at intervals, put small pats of butter, together with a sprinkling of salt and chopped parsley. Then put in the oven (to be cooked gently), the white side uppermost, and adding white wine sufficient to moisten and more salt, pepper, chopped parsley, a little chopped onion and pats of butter. When half cooked, take out and sprinkle very fine breadcrumbs over and baste frequently, so that they stay well on the fish. Put back, in a very hot oven, to finish off and brown.

CURRIED HALIBUT

Cut the fish into pieces 1 inch square, fry the onion in the butter without browning, add the ground rice, cinnamon, coriander, cocoa­nut, curry powder, turmeric, and salt, stir in the stock and simmer gently for 20 minutes, Cut the cucumber in 2-inch lengths and remove the skin, cut in quarters and remove the seeds, cook in boiling salted water 10 minutes, then strain and add to the curry with the fish cut in small pieces, simmer 10 minutes longer, then dish up and serve with boiled rice.

TURBOT EN MATELOT

Put two sliced onions, a large carrot, a bay leaf, chopped parsley, a sliver of garlic, three cloves, three peppercorns and a pinch of salt into three pints of boiling water. After an hour's cooking strain and return the liquor to a saucepan with half its quantity of dry white wine. Cut the turbot (brill or John Dory would substitute well), which should weigh about 2 lb., into fillets and boil into this water gently for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, fry some diced onions in butter, flavour with pepper, salt and a blade of mace. Thicken with flour and add enough of the liquor in which the fish was boiled to make a sauce. While the sauce stews gently, stir in the yolk of an egg. Pour over the fish and serve.

TURBOT

Cook 1 hour. Strain. Return liquor to saucepan with half quantity white wine. Cut turbot into pieces, boil in the bullion gently 20 minutes. In meantime fry few sliced onions (and mushrooms if desired), flavour with pepper and salt. Add little flour to thicken with sufficient of the liquor in which fish was cooked. Stir while sauce boils few minutes, and pour over fish and serve.

PIQUANTE TURBOT

Grease a fireproof dish, put the turbot in it and cover with melted butter. Sprinkle lightly with chopped herbs (including green chives), and season well. Brush with a beaten egg, cover with breadcrumbs and bake. Serve with a sauce made of melted butter to which chopped herbs, good seasonings, a little mustard and a dash of lemon juice have been added.

HERRING AND MACKEREL

A TASTY FISH FLAN

Make pastry with 8 oz. self-raising flour, 4 oz. margarine or butter, 2 oz. lard, little salt and water. Make a cheese batter with 1 egg, 2½ oz. flour, salt and milk to make a thin batter, 3 oz. grated cheese, 6 herring roes. Make the pastry and roll out, line a sandwich tin, double-line round the edge, prick with a fork, lay roes on the pastry, season with salt and pepper, and a little grated cheese. Pour the rest of the batter and cheese over the roes, and bake for 20 minutes till browned.

BAKED MACKEREL WITH WALNUT SAUCE

Clean a fair-sized mackerel and fill it with the stuffing made as follows: 2 oz. breadcrumbs, 1 oz. chopped suet, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful thyme, little pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly with a little milk. Sew up mackerel. Put tail through where eyes were; fasten with a skewer. Grease a baking tin with dripping, place fish on it. Have ready some partly boiled potatoes, cut in half, place round fish. Put some very small pieces of dripping on fish. Bake in a good oven for ½ hour. Baste frequently. Serve with walnut sauce made as follows: Beat ½ teacup of butter to a cream, mix in juice of ½ lemon. Beat in 3 tablespoonfuls finely chopped pickled walnuts and 1 table­spoonful of chopped parsley.

SPANISH FISH

This method is particularly good for white herring or mackerel, tending to counteract their extreme oiliness. Prepare fish by split­ting, removing backbones and dusting outside with flour or fine oatmeal. Parboil and mince an onion. Remove the stones from 6 soaked prunes and 2 or 3 olives; chop them and set aside 1 tea­spoonful. Mix together the minced onion and fruit, with a dust of salt, cayenne, sugar and spice. Fill the boned fish with the mixture and sew or tie up neatly. Bake in a well-greased dish, or grill them. Serve with white sauce, to which is added a little lemon juice and 1 spoonful of the chopped prunes and olives. Fresh haddock may be stuffed with the same filling, and baked with tiny rolls of bacon. Garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg.

MACKEREL FRICASSEE

Sufficient for 6 people. Clean and wash the fish, cut up in pieces about a 1 in. thick, and boil with a little water - just enough to cover - add salt; cut up all the vegetables in small nice pieces, and pile it all nicely on a dish. Melt the butter, stir in the flour and add the strained stock from the fish and the milk, let it boil for 2 minutes. Pour this over the dish. Sprinkle the parsley on top and serve piping hot.

MACKEREL PUDDING

Sufficient for 6 people. Clean and wash the fish, split open, and take middle bone out, scrape the flesh away from the skins, and let it go through the mincer 4 times - with the salt and potato flour - then stir in the milk a little at a time. Put it all in a well-greased mould, and steam in the oven for 1 hour. Turn it out and serve with sauce made of the stock boiled from the skins and bones - with a little chopped parsley - and a lump of butter, pepper and salt.

MACKEREL GRATIN

1 deep plateful of mackerel either cold boiled or fried, ¼ lb. cooked cold potatoes, 4 eggs, 2 spoonfuls of flour, a little butter, a dash of nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ pint milk. Sufficient for 6 people.

Melt the butter, stir in the flour, add the milk, a little at a time, add the potatoes and fish and boil up, then let it stand to cool. Add the yolks of the eggs - one at a time - the nutmeg and salt, and at last the whites beaten stiff. Put in a well-greased tin or dish, and bake in the oven for hour.

MACKEREL IN JELLY

Clean and wash the fish, take away skins and bones. Cut up the flesh in small neat pieces and boil. For the jelly take 1 quart of the stock, 1 tablespoonful of vinegar, the whites of 2 eggs, and the shell of the 2 eggs, 10 leaves of white gelatine, a few bay leaves. Beat it all up cold together; put it on the fire and beat all the time till it boils; put it at the side of the stove for 5 minutes. Strain but do not stir, rinse a mould in cold water, put the fish in with a layer of small crisp lettuce leaves, pour over the jelly and leave to set. Serve on a dish with watercress and potato salad round.

BOILED HERRINGS WITH SAGE

6 large fresh herrings, water, salt and whole peppercorns. Clean and wash the fish, split open and take the middle bone out. Roll a piece of sage in each herring - roll up like a sausage - put a string round, boil very carefully and leave it in the saucepan to cool. Very good served hot or cold for supper and breakfast.

CORNISH "STARGAZY" PIE

Take any number of fresh herrings, clean and fillet them, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roll up. Parboil some potatoes and onions, cut into slices and arrange in a pie-dish, together with some sliced apples (slightly sugared) and the herring fillets. Dust with salt, pepper and nutmeg, add a spoonful or two of stock or water. Cover with short crust, brush over with egg, and bake in a moderate oven.

HERRING PIE

Herring pie will be found a tasty, nutritious, and inexpensive dish. Ask your fishmonger to fillet the herrings when you buy them. Prepare for cooking by cutting the fish into medium-sized pieces. Place in a well-greased pie-dish and season with pepper, salt, ground mace and a suspicion of mustard. Add to this some chopped apple, onion and a little parsley, also a few knobs of butter or margarine. Cover with water or some fish stock and then place over the whole a good, short crust and bake in a moderate oven, giving time for the fish to be thoroughly cooked. The pie may be eaten either hot or cold with salad.

DEVILLED HERRINGS

Fillet 6 herrings and soak in 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil and 1 tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar for 1 hour, then wipe dry. Grill for 5 minutes. Spread toasted bread thickly with cheese mixed with mustard and place 1 grilled fillet on each piece of toast and serve on lettuce leaves.

STUFFED HERRINGS

Fillet and clean 2 herrings, mix together 1 cupful of breadcrumbs, some chopped parsley and seasoning. Mix together with a little milk to a paste and place between the two fishes. Rub on some breadcrumbs and bake in a moderate oven with dripping until cooked and browned, basting occasionally.

HERRING AND POTATO STEW

Wash the cabbage and shred it finely. Slice the onions. Boil the water with ½ teaspoonful of salt, and put in the onion and cab­bage. Boil them for 10 minutes. Cut the potatoes in half, put them with the cabbage and simmer gently. In 20 minutes season to taste and lay the herrings on top. Simmer till the potatoes are quite soft, and serve on a hot dish.

CAVEACH

Pound and mix together 2 oz. of Jamaica pepper, ½ drachm of mace, 1 drachm of allspice, and ¼ lb. of salt. Add 1 large nutmeg (grated). Clean as many mackerel as desired and cut them crosswise into 4 pieces, throwing away the heads and tails but keeping the livers, and melts and roes, in the portions in which they remain in the respective parts. Cover and rub each piece well with the mixed seasoning, putting a larger portion in the inside. Make also a few holes in the fish, and fill them with the seasoning. Then put some good olive oil into a frying pan, and fry the fish to a nice brown. Let them drain on a hair sieve or some other drainer till quite cold, and then put them into a glass or stone jar which they ought almost to fill. Cover them with vinegar about 1 in. above the topmost pieces, and on the vinegar pour a surface of olive oil. This is a very toothsome preparation of mackerel, and, if the jar be always carefully closed after taking out a dishful of the fish, it will keep for a long time. Caveach has this distinction, that mackerel so prepared does not interfere with the most delicate digestion - probably owing to the qualities of the nutmeg in com­bination.

LEFT-OVER FISH DISHES

KEDGEREE

Sufficient for 4 people. Flake the fish, boil and dry rice. To boil rice, plunge washed rice into boiling water and cook until grains can be rubbed between finger and thumb without feeling a hard core, dry in colander before fire or in warm oven for a few minutes. Put rice into a saucepan with fish, margarine or butter and seasoning. Stir well till hot. Pile on hot dish and decorate with chopped hard-boiled egg. This dish can be conveniently prepared overnight and heated up.

FISH CAKES

Sufficient for 4 people. Flake the fish, mix with potatoes, seasoning, and melted batter or milk. Turn on to a plate, shape into cakes, egg, breadcrumb and fry. Or, flour cakes well and put on a baking sheet in hot oven to brown. Time required, about 10 minutes.

GOLDEN MERMAIDS

1 lb. cooked fish - deep-sea or a flaky variety. ½ pint of batter made with 1 egg, ½ pint of milk, pepper, salt, pinch of mixed herbs, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour. Remove bones from fish, mix well with batter, fry in plenty of lard or dripping like thick pancakes; serve hot.

FISH TIMBALES

Chop fish and press through a sieve, add onion juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper; when well mixed add whipped cream and almonds finely chopped, and egg whites beaten to a stiff froth, fill buttered timbale moulds, set in pan of hot water and bake 10 or 15 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce.

CREAM FISH CRESCENTS

Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour, and cook till mixture froths, then stir in milk and boil until smooth. Beat in fish and seasoning and spread on a plate until cool. Roll out pastry very thinly, cut into rounds, wet edges. Put teaspoonful of mixture on each round, fold over. Brush with egg and dip in breadcrumbs. Fry until nicely brown in boiling fat; drain on paper, serve with cut lemon.

STEAMED BREAD AND FISH PUDDING

To every 2 cupfuls of cold boiled fish, allow 3 cupfuls breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, salt and pepper to taste. Thoroughly mix and see that the breadcrumbs are fine, and the fish mashed up as small as possible. Bind the whole with enough beaten egg (or milk will do), make the mixture rather dry, press down in a buttered basin and steam 1¾ hours. Turn out and pour over a sauce made as follows: Milk, thickened with cornflour and a lump of butter, pinch of salt, 1 teacupful shelled shrimps and a few mushrooms cut up small. Fry the mushrooms first in a little butter, then add to sauce. Just before dishing up add 1 tablespoonful lemon juice. An excellent dish for invalids, and easily digested, but suitable for anyone.

LING

FRIED LING WITH BANANAS AND HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

Cut up ling in slices, season with pepper and salt, and dip in beaten egg, and cover with bread crumbs which have been first dried in the oven. Now allow a banana for each slice of ling, and cut each in half, lengthwise, dredge with flour and place in a buttered, fireproof dish, sprinkle with a little sugar and lemon juice, bake for 10 minutes in a slow oven. Fry the ling in butter and place on a hot dish with 2 slices of banana on each piece. Serve with Hollandaise sauce.

FISH LOAF

Boil 2 lb. of ling or any white fish with a bit of lemon, a bay leaf, a chopped stalk of celery, salt and pepper to taste, and a few drops of onion juice. Drain, cool and flake into very small pieces.

Cook 1½ cups of soft bread-crumbs in 1½ cups of milk to a paste, add the fish, beaten yolks of 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful each of melted butter and chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful each of salt and poultry seasoning, a bit of grated lemon rind, a teaspoonful of the juice and the stiffly whipped egg whites. Pack into a greased mould, stand in a pan of water and bake for 45 minutes.

BAKED LING AND TOMATOES

The cutlets should be at least 1 inch in thickness. Wash thoroughly and dry in a cloth, afterwards rolling in the flour which has been seasoned with the pepper and salt. Grease a fireproof dish, and cover the bottom with sliced tomatoes, putting aside 4 large slices for garnishing. Lay the fish on the tomatoes, and lay a slice of tomato with a dab of butter (½ oz.) on each cutlet. Sprinkle all with the grated cheese and pour water around the fish. Cover with a well-greased paper and bake in a hot oven for ½ hour, or until fish is soft when tested with a skewer. Take off the paper and allow to brown for a few minutes. Serve very hot. Sufficient for 4 persons.

FRIED LING

Get 1½ lb. of sliced fresh ling and melt some dripping in a large frying-pan and partly fry the ling, then sprinkle over the fish as it is in the pan 2 tablespoonfuls of flour. Pour over some boiling water to fill three parts of the pan and let it boil ½ hour, turning a few times. This is lovely and the gravy delicious as it has the flavour of the fish and the dripping.

LING AND BACON PIE

1 lb. of ling or more according to size of family. Cut it into slices, dust it well with flour and lay in a pie-dish, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle a nice lot of finely chopped parsley; then repeat in rows till dish is full. Put a few small pieces of unsmoked bacon or salt pork. Fill dish up with water. Make a nice short crust as for pies or pastry and put on top. Bake in a nice oven and then put in the bottom shelf to soak, and boil up the fish.

BROILED LING

Procure 2 or 3 slices of ling about ¾ inch thick, wipe the fish, and season with salt and pepper. Broil the slices over or in front of a good fire for about 15 minutes, with a little butter spread on each slice. Use a grid-iron or else cook the fish in a flat stew pan or frying-pan. Place the cooked, fish on a hot dish, garnish with parsley, quarters of lemon with the rind on, and serve quickly.

TWICE LAID

Boil ling for ½ hour - remove skin and bone and put them into stock. Boil macaroni, cut into inch lengths, place a layer in baking tin over a layer of tomatoes and then a layer of fish; continue until all is used. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Melt margarine and pour over. Bake in oven for ½ hour.

LING À LA CRÉOLE

Let the fish soak in the oil, vinegar and lemon juice for ½ hour. Melt butter in a baking dish, lay in the fish and pour the tomato purée over it, season, cover over and bake for ½ hour. Just before serving sprinkle with cheese and lightly brown it.

LING (NEWCASTLE WAY)

4 slices of ling (or according to family), 4 tablespoonfuls fresh breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoonfuls warmed butter, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful grated lemon rind, ½ teaspoonful powdered herbs, 6 oysters, 1 egg, pepper and salt to taste.

Wipe and trim fish, beard and cut oysters into quarters, warm butter, mix all ingredients with beaten egg. Take bones from middle of cutlets, fill with the mixture, wrap in grease proof paper, put pieces of butter on, and bake in quick oven for 30 minutes. Serve in paper, to preserve juices of fish, with any good sauce - oysters for choice.

HIGHLAND RECIPE FOR SALT LING

Cut the dried ling or cod in small pieces, soak overnight in cold water. Pour off water, put fish in fresh water and bring to boil. Cook until tender. Drain, lay in pie-dish with liberal helping of margarine and pepper, grate over with cheese (any kind will do). Squeeze lemon. Put in oven until cheese melts. Serve hot. Cost for 2 people, 6d. to 8d.

STEWED LING

Wash slices of fish and roll in seasoned flour. Place fish in a fireproof dish. Chop onions and mustard and cress. Melt the butter. Stir in flour, milk and water and stir till it boils. Add chopped onions, mustard and cress and bay leaf. Pour the sauce over the fish. Cover with greased paper and bake in a fairly hot oven for 15 minutes. Remove paper. Place a border of mashed potato round the edge of dish, and brown it lightly in a quick oven. Garnish with hard boiled egg.

MONKFISH AND SKATE

GRILLED MONKFISH WITH PIQUANT SAUCE

Wash the fish and cut it in large pieces. Place in a frying-pan with a pint of water and a teaspoonful of salt. Bring to the boil and throw away the water. Melt the margarine and fry the pieces of fish slowly on one side for 5 minutes. Pour some of the mar­garine over them, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and place under the griller to finish cooking. When the fish is cooked, keep it hot on a dish and make the sauce in the pan in which the fish was cooked. Stir the flour and mustard into the remainder of the margarine and add the capers and stock gradually. Stir till it boils, add the milk, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Strain the sauce into a sauce-boat and garnish the fish with parsley. Sufficient for 4 persons.

MONKFISH AND FRIED APPLES

Wash the fish and cut into convenient sized pieces. Place in a pie-dish with the water, vinegar, salt, peppercorns and cloves, and cover with greased paper. Bake it if the oven is being used for other things; if not, place it on an asbestos mat over a low gas. Turn the fish over when it is half done. It takes about 15 minutes, and is cooked when the flesh is soft.

Peel the apples, cut them in quarters, and take out the cores. Cut each quarter into 3 or 4 slices. Heat the dripping, put in the apples and fry them slowly till soft; turn them over when half done. To serve, place fish on a hot dish with a border of apples and pour in the rest of the dripping. Sufficient for 2 or 3 persons.

AN OLD SUSSEX DISH

Boil 1½ lb. fresh skate for 10 minutes very gently. Remove fish from the bones. Line bottom of greased pie-dish with thin short pastry. Next, add a layer of fish, then a few thin slices of fat salt pork, dusted with salt and pepper and a few mixed herbs. Cover this with the rest of the fish and a little of the stock in which it was boiled. Finish with a top of the short pastry, and bake in a moderately slow oven for 1½ hours. Other fish may be used for this recipe - such as haddock and cod.

HOTPOT OF MONKFISH

Fillet some monkfish and cut into suitable pieces. Place ½ dozen peeled tomatoes at the bottom of a deep fireproof dish, then a layer of fish. Season with salt, pepper, grated nutmeg and some onion, chopped fine. Sprinkle with a layer of breadcrumbs and then repeat tomatoes, fish, seasoning, breadcrumbs, till the dish is full, finishing with tomatoes and breadcrumbs. Dot the surface with bits of butter, cover over with greaseproof paper and bake for about 30 minutes.

MONKFISH AND ITALIAN SAUCE

Wash and dry the fish, place in a fireproof dish, place dabs of butter on the fish and cover with greaseproof. Shred bacon and carrot and onion into strips and cook in milk, thicken with flour and butter; pour over the baked fish, return to oven for a few minutes, garnish with chopped parsley, and serve in the same dish as cooked in. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.

MONKFISH WITH CAPER SAUCE

Put in a fish kettle with sufficient water to cover the fish, all the above ingredients, and simmer the skate in them till tender. When it is done, skin it neatly and pour over it some of the liquor in which it has been boiling. Drain it, put it on a hot dish, pour over it caper sauce, and send some of the latter to table in a tureen.

ROYAL SKATE PIE

May be served hot or cold. Line a large plate with pastry, flake a pound of skate which has previously been boiled in salted water till tender and spread over pastry, adding a little minced chutney. Now break on top 3 or 4 eggs, keeping yolks whole. Cover top with pastry and bake in moderate oven till crust is lightly browned. In addition to being a nice luncheon dish, this pie, when cold, is an attractive item suitable for packing in the car luncheon basket, as it cuts out firm.

STEWED BACKBONE OF SKATE

Cut onions up, place in saucepan, fish on top; season with pepper, salt and parsley; cover with milk and water. Simmer for 1 hour, before dishing up thicken with flour and butter. Serve with mashed potatoes or parsnips. Sufficient for 4 adults.

DRESSED SKATE

Cut the skate in pieces; take fins and skin and place into a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, and skim; add onions (sliced) and herbs, simmer ½ hour, then strain. Warm the butter, brown the flour in it, add stock, lemon juice, and pieces of skate, simmer about ¼ hour. Dish and add wine to sauce and strain over. Sufficient for 4 persons.

MONKFISH AND TOMATOES

Wash fish, dry it a little in a cloth, then dip it in the flour, and place it in a dish or casserole well greased. Cut the tomatoes into halves, placing them between and on top of the fish, then sprinkle salt and pepper to taste; place the dripping or butter on top, add about enough water to cover the dish 1½ inch from the bottom, place cover on dish, and put it in a fairly hot oven. Cook slowly for about if hours. This is a very tasty fish dish, inexpensive and easily cooked.

MONKFISH CASSEROLE

Get 1 monk fish, about 1½ lb. Clean it in the same way as haddock, stuff with breadcrumbs, sweet herbs, the juice of 1 lemon, some salt, pepper, mixed with egg and some pieces of margarine. Bake in oven in casserole about ½ hour, baste. Make gravy with 1½ tablespoonfuls of cornflour, 1½ teaspoonfuls of Marmite, 2 cups of water, make this into a thick gravy, pour over fish and serve. The fish is delicate and cheap.

PICKLED AND PRESERVED FISH

TO PICKLE FISH

Take any freshly caught fish, clean and scale them, wash and wipe dry. Cut them into slices about 3 in. thick, put them in a stone jar with salt, allspice, and horseradish. When the jar is filled with the fish cover with vinegar, then cover the jar tightly, put it in the oven for a few hours. Afterwards keep it in a cool place for 3 days and it will be ready for use. This will keep for 6 months.

PICKLED HERRING OR MACKEREL

Fillet and clean 6 herrings or mackerel, roll and place in deep pie dish; cover with vinegar and shred a small onion and sprinkle a few peppercorns and a blade of mace; cover and bake until well cooked.

AN OLD CAPE DUTCH RECIPE

For this dish, any kind of fish which can be cut into steaks may be used. To each cutlet take the following proportions and quanti­ties of ingredients: 1 small onion, 1 teacupful vinegar, 1 heaped tablespoonful sugar, 1 teaspoonful Indian curry powder, a few peppercorns and allspice, lemon, pinch salt.

Have the fish cutlets fairly large and thick, with fin bones trimmed off. Prepare as for frying, fry, drain well, and lay in earthenware dish to cool. The onions to be sliced right across thinly (not chopped) and simmered in the vinegar until tender. Mix sugar and curry powder with lemon juice and stir into saucepan containing onions and vinegar. Add peppercorns and allspice and salt, and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture over the fried fish steaks and leave until quite cold. This dish is intended to be bottled and put aside for some weeks. Stored in screw-top jars, it makes an excellent "stand-by" for emergencies, the flavour improving with time. It is, nevertheless, very delicious 24 hours or so after being made. To be eaten cold.

PICKLED SOLES

Heat the fat and fry the fillets a light brown. Remove from the pan and let them cool. Meanwhile, slice and fry 3 onions in 1 tablespoonful of the fat, add half the curry powder, 2 chillies chopped fine, a teaspoonful salt, and mango pickle. Stir till the onions are a golden colour and the mixture becomes thick. Moisten with a little vinegar and let cool. Lay the fillets in an earthenware or glass jar, spreading a layer of the mixture over each. Cut the remaining onions into thin slices, simmer till soft in vinegar; add to this the remaining chillies, curry powder and salt. Pour over the fish, Leave uncovered till cold, then cover closely for 2 or 3 days, when it will be ready for use. It will keep several weeks. Any white fish can be pickled in this way.

ROME-POTTED FISH

Take a medium-size conger-eel, turbot, or ling, clean and cut in slices about ¾ 1½ in. thick; sprinkle with salt and allow to remain in salt about 10 minutes. Then wash again and drain. Place in an earthenware jar covering it with vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful of salt, 2 dessertspoonfuls of pickling spice, 2 or 3 pieces of ginger should be included and a piece of fresh butter about size of walnut. Stand the jar in saucepan filled partly with boiling water, and allow to simmer for 2 hours. This must be prepared the day before required to allow to cool, and if well covered in the jar and kept air-tight it will keep several months, but must be tied down each time after taking fish from the jar. Tomatoes, cucumber, or lettuce may be served with it and will be found appetising, especially for the spring and summer months. Fresh herring or mackerel may be done in the same way. For those who are nervous of eating tinned fish, it is handy to have such home-potted fish.

PIKE AND TROUT

STEWED TROUT

In season from May to August. Melt 3 oz. of butter in a broad stew-pan, stir to it 1 tablespoonful of flour, sorrel, mace, cayenne and nutmeg; lay in the fish, after it has been washed very clean and wiped perfectly dry. Shake it in the pan that it may not stick, and when lightly browned on both sides, pour in ¾ pint of good veal broth; add a small bunch of parsley, 1 bay leaf, a roll of lemon peel and a little salt. Stew the fish very gently from ½ to ¾ hour. Dish the trout, skim the fat from the gravy, pass it through a hot strainer over the fish, serve immediately. A little wine can be added to the sauce if liked.

BLUE TROUT

Boil the following ingredients together for 15 minutes: 2 pints water, ½ pint white wine, ½ cup vinegar, 2 carrots, 2 onions, 1 leek, piece of parsley, 1 celery leaf, 1 bay leaf, lemon peel, cloves, pepper­corns, and salt. Wash trout in vinegar or lemon and dry with a cloth. Directly the ingredients have boiled for 15 minutes, stop boiling, put in the fish and keep hot (not boiling) for 15 to 20 minutes, and then serve.

BAKED TROUT

Cut a carrot and 1 onion into small pieces and fry in butter till nicely browned. Add a glass of claret, 1 bay leaf, 3 peppercorns and 1 clove; simmer gently till all the wine is absorbed. Now put in ½ pint brown sauce, and boil gently for 15 minutes. Skim off any fat or scum. After cleaning and scaling the trout, lay it in a buttered pie-dish or whatever you may be going to bake it in; sprinkle over a little pepper and salt and the juice of 1 lemon, break some small pieces of butter over the top and add a gill of water; cover with a greased paper and bake 20 minutes. Baste well with liquor to prevent the skin drying. Dish up, mix the liquor from the fish with the sauce, season and strain over the fish.

PIKE AS PREPARED IN BADEN

Clean, bone and scrape the scales from the fish; lay it in a well-buttered dish, pour over it a generous supply of cream, then sprinkle over it thickly grated parmesan and breadcrumbs, salt and pepper to taste, and either button mushrooms or truffles may be added as a seasoning. Place in the oven and bake golden brown.

BAKED PIKE

Scale the fish by just pouring boiling water over and then plunging into cold water. Scrape briskly with back of knife. Wipe very dry, empty it, and fill the cavity with nicely-seasoned forcemeat, sew up sides and lay in baking dish. Put pieces of butter over the top, and add 1 cupful of broth. Bake in moderate oven ½ hour. Baste frequently. Good beef dripping will do as well as butter. Lift out when done; thicken gravy with flour. Pour over fish and serve.

SOLES, PLAICE, WITCHES

FLOUNDERS CREAM

Flounders are plentiful and seldom high priced. They are quickly cooked and easily digested. Sprinkle with salt, inside and out, 1 or 2 hours before cooking and rinse off the salt before using. The following is an excellent recipe: ½ lb. uncooked fish free from bone, 1 oz. of butter or substitute, 3 tablespoonfuls of milk, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful of cream, pepper, nutmeg, salt, 1½ oz. of breadcrumbs. Soak the crumbs in milk. Chop or mince the fish as fine as possible. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the milk and bread-crumbs, salt, a dust each of pepper and nutmeg and stir till it thickens. Pour over the fish in a basin and stir well. Add the egg, yolk and white beaten separately, then the whisked cream and stir. Pour into a greased basin three parts full, cover with greased paper and steam for 25 minutes. Serve with lemon, parsley or shrimp sauce.

FLOUNDER SOUCHET

For a flounder weighing about 1½ lbs. Clean and wash, cut down to backbone with sharp knife and remove fillets on either side. Put the trimmings and bones into a saucepan with 1 onion, 4 large leaves of parsley, pepper and salt, and 1½ pints water. Stew slowly till stock is reduced to half. Roll the fillets in flour till covered thickly. Lay in fireproof dish. Strain the stock from the bones, etc. Sprinkle 1 tablespoonful of parsley chopped finely over the fish. Cover and stew till tender. Decorate with sliced hard boiled eggs and thin slices of lemon and serve with brown bread and butter.

A PLAICE RECIPE

Take 4 fillets of plaice, and 1 hard boiled egg. Cut the egg in four lengthways and roll each piece in a fillet of fish. Stand them on end in a pie-dish. Make a white sauce and flavour it with 1 tomato and a little grated cheese, or anchovy if preferred. Pour this over the fish and egg and bake in a slow oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. This will make a very tasty dish and is sufficient for 2 persons.

SAFFRON FISH

Two or 3 onions, 3d. of saffron, ½ pint of water, wineglass of olive oil, 2 eggs, juice of ½ lemon, cayenne pepper and salt to taste, a few whole peppers and allspice. Two nice large soles. Dovers make this the best but other kinds will do. Put the onions, water, oil and saffron tied up in a piece of muslin into a stew-pan with the whole peppers and allspice, simmer gently for 20 minutes, then put in the fish cut up into nice pieces dusted well with pepper and salt and stew until done. Take out the fish, lay it on a dish in nice order. Strain sauce, return to stew-pan and thicken with the eggs well beaten, then add cayenne, and lemon juice. Keep stirring (it must on no account boil or it will curdle) till it becomes the consistency of thick cream. Pour over the fish and put aside to cool and set into a jelly. Eaten cold with bread and butter, makes an excellent supper or breakfast dish. If the heads, tails and fins of the fish are stewed in the sauce, they add considerably to the flavour.

FRENCH LEMON SOLE

Wash fish and trim, dry well. Skin grapes, melt butter in tin, put in fish, place grapes on top, cover tin and cook in hot oven for ½ hour.

FILLET OF SOLE À LA VENEZIANA

Fillet your sole and roll fillets round. Put the fillets in a stew-pan, with 1 gill of stock, and 2 dessertspoonfuls of sherry. Simmer for 10 minutes. Then add 6 mushrooms, cut fine, boil for 10 minutes longer. Dish up the fillets with an oyster on the top of each and strain sauce over them and serve.

SOLE COLBERT

Choose as many soles as required, trim them, cutting off fins, head, etc., making them tidy. Make a slit down the centre of each, cutting a little each side so as to make a trench. Wipe them, then egg and breadcrumb and fry a golden brown in lard or frying oil. The filling is made thus: Chop some parsley fine, blend with butter and a few drops of lemon juice, make into tiny rolls with butter pats. Dish up the soles on hot dish, garnish with parsley and put one of the rolls in the centre of each fish. This dish must be served quickly. It is very pleasing and attractive for small lunches or dinners.

FILLET OF SOLE EMPIRE

Peel the tomatoes, cut in two and squeeze out the pips, cut into small dice; chop the shallots finely; spread evenly over the bottom of a well buttered pan half the amount of tomatoes and shallots. On the top of these place the fillets of soles spreading the remainder of the garnish over the fish, then a good sprinkling of chopped parsley and lemon juice, season well, cover with water or fish stock, and put in the oven till the fish is cooked. Take the fillets from their stock, put them on a buttered dish and keep them hot. Next reduce the stock over a moderate gas (stirring often to prevent burning) until it becomes the consistency of a thick cream. Pour in the cream and bring just to the boil. Turn out the gas, then add the butter in little pieces shaking the pan in a forward-backward movement. When all ingredients are well blended the sauce is ready, except perhaps for a little extra seasoning. Pour over the fish and serve directly.

FISH AU GRATIN

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