Sturgeon is a very large fish, of rather yellow appearance, and is sometimes sold cheap, at sixpence (and even less) a pound. It is a most substantial fish, very satisfying, and very like veal. Very few persons would know the difference between sturgeon and veal cutlet if cooked as follows: -

Take a slice of sturgeon an inch thick, weighing, say, three pounds. Take a bottle of dried mixed herbs (see Herbs), and pour some out into a sieve. Shake the sieve over the raw fish, first one side and then the other, and dry it, using the sifted herbs instead of flour. When quite dry, egg-and-bread-crumb it (see No. 20), and fry it till it is nicely browned. (See No. 6.) Like veal, it wants a lot of cooking. Next, make a strong fish stock with, say, the bones of a sole that has been filleted, adding some parsley and a couple of slices of onion. Boil this till there is barely more than half a pint. Strain off the liquor, and add to it a small tin of mushrooms, liquor and all. Thicken this with some brown thickening (see No. 12), till it is as thick as double cream. Add a dessertspoonful of ketchup, and another not quite full of soy. Pour the sauce round, not over, the fish. Ornament as follows: Pick out five or six of the largest mushrooms, cut off the round tops, glaze them with a little soy, and place them on the cutlet, alternately with some small crayfish. This sauce, which does not contain any meat, has the appearance of rich brown gravy. The fish tastes like veal, the more so owing to the herbs, which are the same as those used for veal stuffing.

Without the mushrooms and crayfish, the latter being purely for ornament, it is really a very cheap dish if the fish is cheap.