Stewed Trout, Carp, Or Tench

Clean the fish very well. If large they may be cut in pieces. Rub them inside with salt and mixed spices; lay them in a stew-pan with as much good stock as will cover them, two onions with four cloves stuck in each, some Jamaica and black peppercorns, and a bit of mace. When the fish have stewed a few minutes, add two glasses of white wine, a boned anchovy, the juice of a lemon, and a little cayenne pepper. When the fish is sufficiently stewed, take it out carefully and keep it hot; thicken the sauce with some brown roux. Add a tea-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, skim, strain, pour over the fish, and serve.

Matelote Of Carp Or Eels, Etc

One large or two small carp, cut in seven or eight pieces. Fry them in a little butter, then add to them about a pint of red wine, a ladle of gravy, a bunch of green onions, herbs, and parsley, a few cloves, three or four bay-leaves, pepper and salt. Stew all together gently about three-quarters of an hour. Strain it into another stew-pan, in which put as much cullis as will make up the quantity of sauce you require for your dish. Place your fish in it, with a spoonful or two of capers; an anchovy cleaned, boned, and minced fine; and the juice of a lemon. The capers may be omitted and button onions substituted. Tench and eels are excellent done in this way.

Un Brochet Farci

Prepare your pike thus: - Gut it without cutting it open, but take care it is well cleaned. Cut a notch down the back from head to tail, put the tail in the mouth, and lay it to marinade for an hour in vinegar and oil, sliced onions, parsley, and bay-leaves. For your stuffing take the udder of a leg of veal, or the kidney fat of a loin of lamb, some fat bacon cut in dice, some green onions, a mushroom or two, or truffles, parsley, salt and pepper, and a morsel of butter. Chop it all well, add the crumb of a French roll soaked in cream or milk; pound all together in a mortar, try if it is seasoned enough, if not add more. Fill the belly of the fish, close up the cut in the back, egg it well over, strew bread-crumbs on it, and bake in a gentle oven. Serve with a caper sauce. (See Fish Sauces.)

How To Fry Whitebait

The sooner they are cooked the better. Keep them in a pan of salt and water. When you wish to cook them, lift them out with a skimmer, for they should never be handled. Put them into a cloth on which there is plenty of flour, toss them about in it till they are well coated, place them on a sieve and sift off all the flour that will come. Have ready your hot lard, and fry immediately from one to two minutes. Lift them out with the skimmer, drain from the frying fat, and serve them instantly. Thin slices of brown bread and butter, cayenne and lemon, should be eaten with them.