This section is from the book "Three Meals A Day", by Maud C. Cooke. Also available from Amazon: Three Meals a Day.
Place in plenty of cold water over night, or still better, in a pan of sour milk. Scald slightly when ready for cooking, lay on a well-buttered plate with bits of butter over the fish, and put it into the oven till the butter melts, after which it is ready for use.
Take a two-inch plank the size of the oven, made of some hard wood, oak or hickory. Heat in the oven until thoroughly hot. Have the fish split down the back, put it, skin down, on the hot plank; dust with salt and pepper, and baste with melted butter. Put the plank on the oven bottom and bake about thirty minutes, basting three times. When the fish is done take from the oven, garnish with parsley and lemon, and send to the table on the plank, placed on a Japanese lacquered tray a little larger than the plank. A large platter may be used instead.
The flavor imparted by the hot plank makes the fish delicious.
½ pint cold boiled salt fish. ½ pint cold mashed potatoes. 2 boiled onions chopped. ¼ teaspoonful pepper.
Remove the bones, mince the fish, and season with the pepper. Put a layer of the fish in the bottom of a buttered dish. Then layer of potatoes sprinkled with onions; leave potatoes for the fast layer. Add bits of butter, and bake brown.
Mince sardines fine and mix with ½ the quantity of cold-boiled ham also minced fine, and spread over thinly-cut and slightly-buttered bread. Boll and as the sandwiches with ribbon, or leave flat and cut in fancy shapes. To roll, the bread should be fresh and the crust removed-These are nice for afternoon teas, lunches or collations.
A nice way to serve sardines is to lay them on three cornered pieces of buttered toast. Bread may be Used in place of toast. Garnish the dish with parsley.
 
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