Carp And Tench

Carp and tench may be stewed in the following manner : gut and scale your carp and tench, and having dredged them with flour, fry them in dripping, or good suet, till they are brown. Put them into a stewpan, with a quart of water, the like quantity of port wine, a large spoonful of lemon-pickle, the same of browning, and the like of walnut ketchup : add a little mushroom powder, a proper quantity of cayenne pepper, a large onion stuck with cloves, a spoonful of garlic vinegar, and a stick of horse-radish. Cover your pan close, that none of the steam may escape, and let them stew gently over a stove fire, till the gravy is reduced to barely the quantity sufficient to cover them in the dish. Then take them out, and put them on the dish you intend to serve them up in. Put the gravy on the fire, and having thickened it with a large piece of butter, and some flour, boil it a little, and strain it over your fish. Or, having scaled the carp, and cleaned the tench, dredge them with flour, and fry in dripping. When fried, put the fish into a stewpan with some good gravy, a few anchovies, a bunch of thyme and sweet herbs, a little mace, four spoonsful of ketchup, two spoonsful of browning, and a small slice of onion : stew till nearly enough; take up the fish into another stewpan, strain the gravy, skim off the fat, and having added half a pint of port wine, pour on the fish; stew till enough, thickening with flour and butter.

Carp Stewed White

Having scaled, gutted, and washed your carp, put them into a stewpan, with two quarts of water, half a pint of white wine, a little pepper, salt, and whole mace, a bunch of sweet herbs, two onions, and a stick of horse-radish. Cover the pan close, and let it stand an hour and a half over a stove. Put a gill of white wine into a saucepan, with an onion, two anchovies chopped fine, a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in flour, a little lemon peel, and half a pint of veal gravy. Having boiled them a few minutes, add the yolks of two eggs, mixed with a little cream, and when it boils, squeeze in the uice of half a lemon. Pour this hot upon the fish, and serve them up.

Barbel

Take a large barbel, scale, gut, and wash it in vinegar and salt, and afterwards in water. Put it into a stewpan, with eel broth enough to cover it. Let it stew gently, then add some cloves, a bunch of sweet herbs, white pepper and salt. Let them stew gently, till the fish is done; then take it out, thicken the sauce with butter and flour, and pour it over the fish.

Lobsters

Boil the lobsters, and pick the meat clean from the shells. Take a pint of water, a little mace, a little whole pepper, and the shells of the lobsters. Let them boil till all their goodness is out; then strain off the liquor, and put it into a saucepan. Put in the lobsters with a bit of butter rolled in flour, half a pint of veal gravy, a spoonful or two of white wine, a spoonful of essence of anchovy, and a little juice of lemon. Let them boil, and then lay them in the dish.