This section is from the book "The Modern Cook: A Practical Guide to the Culinary Art in All Its Branches", by Charles Elme Francatelli. Also available from Amazon: The Modern Cook: A Practical Guide to the Culinary Art in All Its Branches.
Cut the eels into pieces four inches long, stew them in some mire-poix of French white wine; when done, drain, trim, and glaze them with some lobster coral-colored glaze, and dish them up in two parallel conical groups; pour round them some Venetian sauce, (No. 26), which has been finished with the addition of half the mire-poix, in which the eels have been stewed, a pat of anchovy butter and the juice of half a lemon ; pass this through a tammy into a stewpan containing a pottle of prepared button-mushrooms; some blanched chopped parsley must be added the last thing. Garnish round with groups of muscles fried in batter, and serve.
Either cut the eels into three-inch lengths, or truss them whole, in a circular form; place them in a stewpan with sliced carot and onion, parsley, bay-leaf and thyme, a few peppercorns and salt; moisten with a gill of vinegar and some water; then put them on the fire to boil, and as soon as they are done, set them to cool partially in their liquor: - after which drain, trim, and bread-crumb them with egg, fry them of a fine color, dish them up with fried parsley, and send to table with some Tartare sauce (No. 96), in a sauce-boat.
Eels a la Tartare may also be bread-crumbed as follows. Mix the yelks of six eggs and three ounces of fresh butter melted over the fire, with pepper, salt, and nutmeg; with this preparation cover the eels, and afterward bread-crumb them - causing plenty of bread-crumbs to adhere; put the eels on a buttered baking-sheet, drop some butter through a spoon with holes in it over them, and about half an hour before diner, place them in the oven to be baked of a fine color, dish them up as in the foregoing case, and send to table with the Tartare sauce, separately in a sauce-boat.
Stew the eels in the usual manner with white wine, or merely as directed for d la Tartare,'then drain, trim, and place them in a clean stewpan, with some of their liquor to keep them moist. Just before dinner, dish the eels up in a group, in the centre of the dish, sauce them with some good sauce d la Poulette mixed with a pat of anchovy butter (and if the eels have been stewed in white wine, half their liquor, reduced to a glaze, should also be added to the sauce); place round them alternate groups of crayfish tails tossed in lobster butter to give them a brighter color, and some scollops of perch tossed in some green Ravigotte sauce; place in the centre of the eels, just at the top of the group, six largo crayfish, eight glazed croutons of fried bread round the base, and serve.
Stew the eels as directed in the foregoing cases, dish them up in the form of a circle, garnish the centre with plain boiled rice, sauce the eels with a good curry (No. 74), and garnish round with some rice croquettes, to be made as follows: -
To four gravy-spoonsful of boiled rice, add one of good Allemande sauce, some nutmeg, and a little grated Parmesan cheese; stir the whole on the fire till it has boiled two or three minutes, and set it on a plate to cool; then mould the croquettes in the form of corks, pears, or round balls, bread-crumb them with egg in the usual way, fry them of a fine color, and use them as directed.
Eels stewed and glazed according to the different modes above described, as well as when bread-crumbed and fried, or baked, may also be sent to table with the following sauces: - Bourguignotte, Tomata, Italian (white or brown), Cardinal, Matelotte, Normande, Ravigotte, Provencale, Poivrade, Piquante, Aurora, or Crayfish sauce.
 
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