Scale and clean the fish, chop off the fins, and if small cook them without cutting; if large, split them length-wise and cut across making four.

Pepper and salt the pieces, roll them in flour and let lie in it until the last; drop them into a pan of hot lard and let fry from five minutes upwards according to size.

Fry a slice of breakfast bacon for each piece of fish in another pan and send in the bacon on the fish and a garnish of parsley and plain boiled potatoes.

Note - There are several varieties of bass and for some reason hardly to be explained hotel stewards seem to be proudest of displaying striped bass in their best menus. The black bass is, however, the favorite with restaurant customers and it seems fair to infer that it has some good qualities which make it so. It is certainly the favorite with anglers. In weight it ranges from one pound to five. Only from 2 to 4 ounces need to be served as a dinner order of the cooked fish, and a spoonful of pota-toes in some form should go in on the same plate. For a restaurant order a fish weighing just one pound is the most satisfactory all around.

Cost - bass 24c for 2 pounds, 8 ounces bacon 8, potatoes 8 orders 2, lard to fry 2; 36c for 8 dishes or 41/2 cents each; hotel size.