Deviled Oysters

1 tablespoon (1/2 oz.) butter

2 tablespoons (1/2 oz.) flour

1 cup (1/2 pt.) hot milk

2 cups (1 pt.) oysters

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1/4 teaspoon powdered nutmeg

2 teaspoons chopped parsley 1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Blend butter and flour in saucepan over the fire, add milk and cook until smooth, add oysters drained, and bread crumbs. Cook five minutes, take from fire, add egg, and seasonings. Pour into greased baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs, and bake in hot oven six minutes. Serve hot.

Batter

1 cup (1/4 lb.) flour

2 eggs

1 cup (1/2 pt.) milk

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Sift flour into bowl, break one egg into it, add one half of milk by degrees, then add other egg and remaining milk. Beat well until it is perfectly smooth and full of air bubbles. Allow to stand thirty minutes, add lemon juice, and use.

Allowing a batter to stand thirty minutes makes starch grains swell, so that they burst more rapidly when placed in hot oven, and are thus more thoroughly cooked. Also the standing allows the air that is entangled during the process of beating to cool down to a lower temperature, so that when brought in contact with heat its capacity for expansion is greater, thus making the batter lighter.

Fish Kromeskies

1/2 pound chopped cooked fish 2 tablespoons (1 oz.) drippings 4 tablespoons (1 oz.) flour 1/4cup (1/4 gill) milk 1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 egg

Thin slices bacon

Frying batter

Blend drippings and flour in a saucepan, add milk, and bring to the boil, then add seasonings, parsley, lemon juice, egg, and fish, mix well, and turn out on a plate to cool. When firm, divide the mixture into ten pieces, and form into neat rounds, using a little flour to prevent mixture sticking to hands. Wrap each round in slice of bacon, dip each into frying batter, coating them well, lift out and drop into smoking hot fat. Fry until brown, and drain on paper. Serve hot garnished with parsley.

Fish Pudding

1 pound cod or haddock 4 large potatoes

2 tablespoons (1 oz.) butter substitute

2 tablespoons cream or milk 1 egg, beaten 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Wash fish and boil until tender in boiling salted water. Boil potatoes, drain and mash with butter, cream, and egg. Bone and flake fish, mix with potatoes, adding seasonings. Fill greased fireproof dish with mixture and bake thirty minutes in moderate oven.

Haddock A La Creme

1 fresh haddock

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

2 tablespoons (1 oz.) butter substitute

4 tablespoons (1 oz.) flour 1 cup (1/2 pt.) milk or cream 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Remove all bones and skin from haddock and cut fleshy part into neat lengths about two inches wide by three inches long.

Sprinkle parsley into greased fireproof dish, and place in the pieces of fish. Blend butter substitute and flour together in saucepan, add milk and stir until boiling, then pour over fish. Stand dish in pan containing some boiling water, and put in hot oven ten minutes. Sprinkle over with seasonings and chopped parsley and serve hot. Kippers, smoked salmon, or other dried fish are good done in a similar way.

The skins and bones can be used for fish stock.