Fish Au Court Bouillon

3 pounds fish of any kind. 1 1/2 tablespoonfuls butter. 1/2 pint chopped onions.

2 tablespoonfuls "Browned Flour."

1 pint chopped tomatoes.

1 pint water.

1/2 pint claret wine.

1 tablespoonful parsley (chopped).

1 teaspoonful powdered thyme.

1/2 teaspoonful powdered cloves.

1/2 teaspoonful powdered allspice.

Pepper and salt.

Fry the onions in the butter in a deep kettle. Add the flour, and stir well. Put in the tomatoes; water, wine, parsley, spices, and seasoning. Let it all come to a boil. Then add the fish, previously sliced. Let it simmer forty minutes.

Baked Fish (Of The Size Of Cod, Blackfish Or Shad)

Make a stuffing by either of the following rules, and fill the fish, previously washed and wiped dry. Or butter thin slices of bread, sprinkle them with salt, pepper and a few drops of water. Stuff the fish, and sew it up with a needle and thread. Skewer the head and tail together, or tie with twine. Lay it on an earthen platter, in which it should be served, as it is difficult to remove a baked fish without breaking. Flour it well. Put a few thin slices of salt pork on top of the fish, with skewers, and sprinkle salt over it. Baste it about once in every ten minutes with the liquor which cooks out of it. Add a little water if there is not enough.

Allow fifteen minutes to the pound for baking fish. The oven should be moderately hot; if very hot it will not cook well in the middle. Brown it well. When it can be easily pierced by a fork, take it from the oven, remove the skewers, pork and thread, and serve. Garnish, if you like, with sprigs of parsley and slices of lemon. Or lay "Fried Oysters" around the dish. If you choose, scatter over the fish drops of Madeira wine or lemon-juice.

Or, serve simply with catsup or Worcestershire sauce.

For another way to bake fish see Baked Blue Fish.

Stuffing For Baked Fish

Two tablespoonfuls chopped ham fat may be used instead of butter. It is economical, and gives a pleasant flavor.

Mashed Potato makes a good stuffing for fish.

Onion Stuffing For Fish

8 large onions (chopped). 1/2 cupful bread-crumbs. Butter size of an egg.

A little pepper.

Anchovy sauce enough to give a red color to the stuffing.

Mix all well together. Tomatoes may be used in place of Anchovy Sauce. In that case use salt pork (chopped) instead of butter.

Mississippi River Steamboat Stuffing For Fish

Cut raw corn from the cob, add to it one third as much raw tomatoes (chopped coarse). Dredge well with flour, and add a beaten egg, having mixed them well together.

Season with salt and pepper and one teaspoonful melted butter, and stuff the fish. Bake as usual.

Fish served in this way is popular on the Mississippi River steamboats.

Baked Blue Fish

Wash the fish. Do not remove the head or tail. Stuff it with "Stuffing for Baked Fish", and sew it up. Put into a dripping-pan a slice of salt pork, cut into strips. Fry on top of the stove till crisp, then add to it half a cupful of boiling water. Lay in the fish. Sprinkle the top with hot water; dredge thickly with flour, and lay bits of butter over the entire top.

Bake one hour, in a moderate oven, basting it often with the water in the pan, so that it will not become dry. If the water wastes away in the pan, add more (boiling). When done, take out the string with which it was sewed. Put on a hot platter, while you make the gravy.

Set the dripping-pan on top of the stove. When the gravy boils, dredge in more flour (stirring fast), and add butter, pepper and salt. Pour over the fish, and lay slices of lemon on top.

(Grated horse-radish may be substituted for the lemon.)

This is the nicest way to cook Blue Fish, as it is more sure of being cooked through than by any of the other ways, and the delicious flavor is well drawn out.