Skin and clean a pound of good eels or four flounders, cut them to pieces, and put them into a saucepan with a pint and a half of water; let them boil a little; put in two blades of mace, ten corns of whole pepper, a bundle of sweet herbs, a piece of bread toasted brown, and a roll of lemon-peel; boil all together till it is very rich; then put into another saucepan a piece of butter about as big as an egg; melt it, dredge in some flour, toss it about till it is brown, strain the gravy to it, and mix all well together.

Gravy Sauce for Poultry, without Meat.

Fish Gravy

Take the neck, legs, liver and gizzard, cut them small, and boil them in a pint of water, with a small piece of bread toasted brown, twelve berries of black, and the same of Jamaica pepper, a sprig of lemon-thyme and sweet marjoram, or savory, and two leaves of basil, or half a bay leaf; (the bones of any kind of roast meat broken to pieces, and stewed with it, are a great improvement; as will also be the cuttings or trimmings of any joint you may have in the house;) boil slowly till your gravy is reduced nearly half; then strain it into a clean stewpan, bruise the liver well, and rub it through a sieve with a wooden spoon, thicken it with a little bit of butter rolled in flour, and add a teaspoonful of browning, and a tablespoonful of red wine, and the same of any kind of catsup you think proper.

Observations

If you have no cuttings or trimmings of meat, an anchovy will sometimes be a good substitute.