Carp

Neither have we cooked carp. This fish is doubtless one of the greatest dainties you can set before an epicure, if properly cooked. Many cooks prepare and make the sauce from the fish's own blood, and so must be capable of killing it themselves. I know of a good many ways of cooking this fish. Here is one, but extravagant: Carp a la Petite Chambre.

Scale, gut, and wash a fine large carp; remove the skin, and lard one side with bacon. Make a forcemeat with a veal sweetbread, mushrooms, truffles, and cocks'-combs, all finely minced; stuff the fish with this forcemeat. Pour the contents of two bottles of wine into an oval fish-kettle; add a minced onion, the thinly-cut rind of half a lemon, and a pinch of salt; set the pan over the fire; when the liquor boils, put in the carp, let all simmer for ten minutes, then take the pan from the stove.

Have ready a tasty jelly, made from the shin of veal, with slices of bacon, seasoned with onions, cloves and garlic.

Put this jelly into a clean fish-kettle; lay the carp on the strainer, and when the jelly has boiled, place in the strainer, and let the liquor simmer till the fish is cooked. Then take it up carefully, lay it on a hot dish; mix the two liquors together, and boil for five minutes, then thicken with a lump of butter rolled in flour; strain and pour over the fish. This dish is equally good eaten either hot or cold.

Trout

To my taste, the nicest way to cook salmon-trout is to boil it in vinegar, salt, and water; serve it up quite plain with lemon sauce alone.

But, like carp, there are twenty ways of preparing this fish. Here is one, also a little extravagant: See that the trout are scaled, washed, and wiped dry; put them into a stew-pan with a bottleful of white wine, a bunch of sweet herbs, a little grated nutmeg, a clove of garlic, a gill of clear veal stock, and an ounce of boiled truffles, cut into slices, with pepper and salt to taste.

When the fish is done, place it on a hot dish, then let the sauce boil hard for a minute; put in a teaspoonful of essence, together with the juice of a lemon; add a small lump of butter slightly rubbed in flour; let all boil; pour it over the fish. Serve with a dish of sliced cucumbers, well-oiled, and a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar poured over the slices.

Home-Made Ketchup

No gravies or sauces can be of the proper taste unless some kind of ketchup has been used in their decoction. Here is a very good recipe for making some of this most important relish: Into a wide-necked stone bottle put a pint of the best white wine vinegar, a dozen skinned shallots, slightly bruised; add a gill of white wine, that has been well-heated, and a dozen blanched and filletted anchovies, which have been dissolved in the wine. When all in the bottle is quite cold, put in a second gill of white wine, three blades of mace, a piece of ginger, a dozen cloves, a teaspoonful of mixed pepper-corns; grate in half a nutmeg and the rind of a fresh lemon, and one dessert-spoonful of horse-radish. Cover the jar tightly with a bladder, then with brown paper. During the first week shake the bottle well twice a day. No sauce can surpass this when mixed with the pressed liquor from mushrooms.

If red wine be used instead of white, it will of course make the ketchup of a much better colour; but you can colour it with any browning you prefer. You may use this sauce for flavouring fish, and savoury dishes of meat, soups, etc. It will keep good for years if properly corked and set in a dry place.