To Clean

When skinned, clean, head, and tail them. Then throw them in boiling water, in which you have put a little salt and a teaspoonful of vinegar; leave them in it about five minutes, take out, and drain.

Broiled

Clean and cut two pounds of eel, or of either of the others, in pieces about three inches long. Put in a stewpan a piece of butter the size of an egg, and set it on the fire; when hot, lay the eels in, fry about three minutes, turning them over the while; then turn the whole into a crockery vessel, add a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and onions, a pinch of grated nutmeg, a tablespoonful of sweet-oil, salt, and pepper; set on the fire and simmer two hours; take off, roll the pieces in fine bread-crumbs, place them on a gridiron, and on a good fire, and serve when done with piquante sauce.

From the nature of their flesh, eels require to be prepared thus; and, when properly done, make really a very good dish.

Roasted

Prepare the eels as for broiling, and, instead of placing on the gridiron, envelop them in oiled paper and roast before a sharp fire. Serve with piquante, ravi-gote, or Tartar sauce.

Fried

Prepare as for broiling as far as rolling in bread-crumbs, then dip in beaten-egg, roll in bread-crumbs again, and fry. (See Frying.) Serve with tomato-sauce, or just as it is.

In Maitre D'Hotel

Clean as directed, but boil twenty minutes instead of five. Serve with a maitre d'hotel sauce and steamed potatoes, or with muscle, oyster, shrimp, or Tartar sauce.

In Matelote

(See Fish in Matelote.)

Stuffed

Clean as directed; stuff it with currant jelly, bake or roast, and serve with currant jelly.

Flounder (wrongly called sole; the flounder is as good as the sole - the soles that may be found here arc imported from Europe or from Newfoundland), dab-fish, and plaice, after being baked or boiled, may be served with the following sauces:

Allemande, anchovy, anchovy-buttery Mayonnaise, tomato, and au gratin.

Baked

Clean three pounds of the above fish. Put in a crockery dish four ounces of butter, set it on a good fire, and when melted sprinkle in it a teaspoonful of flour, stirring the while; also, a pinch of grated nutmeg, salt, pepper, a saltspoonful of chopped parsley, two or three mushrooms, also chopped, then the fish; pour on it a glass of white wine, and a liquor-glass of French brandy; cover the dish, take it from the fire, and put it in a moderately heated oven, and serve when done just as it is, and in the crockery dish.

A la Normande - Bone and skin the fish as directed.

For a fish weighing four pounds, spread two ounces of butter on the bottom of a baking-pan; spread one onion, chopped fine, over the butter, and as much carrot, cut in small dice. Place the fish over the whole, the pieces as they are, or cut according to the size of the pan, salt and pepper, and bate. Take from the oven when done and dish the fish, leaving the juice in the pan; cut the stems of about a dozen mushrooms; place the heads on the middle of the fish, and the stems around it.

Mix cold a tablespoonful of flour and the same of but-ter in a saucepan, turn into it a pint of broth, set on the fire and stir continually; when thoroughly mixed, turn into it also, and through a strainer, the juice from the pan in which the fish has baked; stir again two or three minutes; turn gently over the fish, put in the oven for about ten minutes, and serve hot. Croutons may be placed around the dish as a decoration.