Soles To Boil

Wash and clean your soles well, put them into a fish-kettle, with a handful of salt, and as much cold spring water as will cover them; put them on a quick fire, and when they boil, set them on the side of the fire to boil gently ten minutes; that will be long enough, unless they be very large.

Send them up on a fish-drainer, garnished with sprigs of parsley.

Observations

Slices of lemon are a very universally acceptable garnish, with either fried or boiled fish; a few sprigs of crisp parsley may be added, if you wish to make it look very smart.

Soles To Fry

Be sure your soles are quite fresh, or all the good cooks in the world cannot make them either look or eat well. An hour before you intend to dress them, wash them thoroughly, and wrap them in a clean cloth, to make them perfectly dry, or the bread crumbs will not stick to them. Beat the yolk and white of an egg well together, on a plate, with a fork; flour your fish, to absorb any moisture that may remain, and wipe it oft' with a clean cloth: dip them in the egg on both sides all over; or, what is better, egg them with a paste-brush, rub some stale bread through a cullender, or hair sieve, strew it all over the fish, so that it covers every part, and take up the fish by the head, and shake off the loose crumbs. The sole is now ready for the fryingpan.

Put a pint or more of fresh sweet olive oil, or a pound of lard *, or beef suet, (the fat ought to cover the fish; what we here order, is for a middling-sized pair of soles,) into a fryingpan, over a sharp and clear fire; watch it, and when it boils, i. e. when it has done bubbling, and is still, and the smoke just begins to rise from the surface, (if the fat is not extremely hot, it is impossible to fry fish of a good colour, or to make them firm and crisp. The best way to ascertain the heat of the fat, is to try it with a bit of bread as big as a nut, if it is quite hot enough, the bread will be brown immediately,) put in the fish, it will be crisp and brown on the side next the fire, in about four or five minutes; to turn it, stick a two pronged fork near the head, and support the tail with a fishslice, and fry the other side: one sole is enough to put in at a time, except the pan is very large, and you have plenty of fat. When your fish are fried, lay them on whited brown paper, on a hair sieve, placed slanting, and near enough the fire to keep them warm, till the fat is thoroughly drained from them; this will take five or ten minutes. When soles are fried, they will keep very good in a dry place for four days, and eat as well as when fresh dressed, if you warm them in a Dutch oven, or in good gravy.

* The. fat will do two or three times, if strained through a hair sieve, and put by; if you do not find it enough, put a little fresh to it.

Observations

There are several general rules in this receipt which apply to all fried fish: we have been very particular and minute in our directions; for, although a fried sole is a very frequent and favourite dish, it is very seldom brought to table in perfection- Batter will occasionally supply the place of egg; and biscuit, powder of bread crumbs: the latter is sold at Russell's excellent biscuit shop, nearly opposite Villiers Street in the Strand *.

* The very indifferent manner in which the operation of frying fish is usually performed, we suppose produced the following Jew d1 esprit, which appeared a few months since

Soles To Stew

These are done the same as eels, Wiggy's way, in good gravy. See No. 164:,

Fillets Of Soles Fried

Take the fillets of a pair of good soles, trim them neatly, and wipe them on a dry cloth; beat the yolk and white of an egg together on a plate for five minutes, dip the fillets into the egg, and then into fine stale bread crumbs, that have been rubbed through a hair sieve. Have some clean lard hot in an iron fryingpan; put in the fillets and fry them of a fine brown colour; lay them on a hair sieve as you do them, and keep them hot before the fire till the following sauce is ready.

Make half a pint of good melted butter squeeze in the juice of a lemon, lay the fillets of soles round the dish, and pour the sauce into the middle.

Fillets Of Soles, White

Take off the fillets, trim them, and cut them in two; butter a clean earthen dish or pan, lay the fillets in it, and butter a paper cut to the size of the dish, and lay it close to the fillets, set it in a cool oven, or over a very slow fire, for about fifteen or twenty minutes; take them up, and dry in that ably conducted daily register, "The Morning Chronicle."

"The King's Bench Reports have cook'd up an odd dish, An action for damages, Fry versus Fish, But sure, if for damages action could lie, It certainly must have been Fish against Fry." them on a sheet of clean paper, or on a clean napkin: dish on a hot dish, and pour a little good white sauce over them.