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.
Comprising Pike, or Jack. stuffed and baked.
a la Chnmbord etc.
,, fried in slice, a la Hollunda
,, crimped in slices, a la Hollandaise; Fillets of Pike.
Perch. a la standby.
a la Wastra .
a la Venitian. Fillets of Perch,
Scale, draw the gills, and thoroughly cleanse and wipe the pike with a clean cloth; till the paunch with well-seasoned veal stuffing; sew it up with a trussing-needle and fine string, and either turn the tail round into the mouth, securing them together by means of string, or truss the pike into the shape of the letter S: make several deep incisions in a slanting direction on both sides of the fish, and place it in a baking-dish; season with pepper and salt, chopped parsley, and mushrooms, and a little shalot, and from six to eight ounces of fresh butter: - moisten with half a bottle of Sherry, and a little good stock, or essence of mushrooms; cover with a well-buttered paper, and put the pike thus prepared in the oven to bake - observing, that it should be frequently basted with its liquor. When done, dish it up; then with two glasses of Sherry - detach all the glaze and herbs from the bottom and sides of the dish in which the pike has been baked, add to this a ladleful of good brown sauce, reduce the whole to a proper consistency, and mix in two ounces of fresh butter, a little essence of anchovies, lemon-juice, and a trifle of cayenne; with this sauce mask the pike and send to table.
This dish is prepared in a similar manner to carp d la Ghambard (see No. 512).
This is also the case with pike d la Cardinal, ditto d la Royale, and ditto fried a l'Allemande; in fact, pike may be dressed in all respects the same as carp.
When the pike is cleaned, cut it into slices an inch thick, and place them in an earthen vessel; season with pepper and salt, oil, lemon-juice, chopped parsley, and a little grated nutmeg; turn the slices of pike over in the seasoning occasionally, in order that they may be well saturated with it, and half an hour before dinner-time, drain them on a napkin, dip each separately in flour, and immediately fry them in hogs' lard, made sufficiently hot for the purpose; dish them on a napkin, place round them a border of fried parsley, and send to table with a boat of well-seasoned Dutch sauce (No. 42).
To produce this dish in perfection, the following instructions must be closely attended to in every particular:-
Scale* and clean the pike, immediately on its being taken from the water; cut the fish into slices nearly an inch thick, and put them into a panful of spring water - fresh from the pump - which, from its coldness, has the power of crimping the comparatively live fish thrown into it. About twenty minutes before dinner, boil the slices in hot water with a little salt; as soon as they are done, drain and dish them up on a napkin, and send to table with either of the following, in a sauce-boat: - Parsley and butter, Dutch sauce, Maitre d'Hotel, or Crayfish sauce.
 
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