English Housewifery Part 12

207. _To stew_ EELS.

Take your eels, case, clean and skewer them round, put them into a stew-pan with a little good gravy, a little claret to redden the gravy, a blade or two of mace, an anchovy, and a little lemon-peel; when they are enough thicken them with a little flour and b.u.t.ter. Garnish your dish with parsley.

208. _To pitch-c.o.c.k_ EELS.

Take your eels, case and clean them, season them with nutmeg, pepper and salt, skewer them round, broil them before the fire, and baste them with a little b.u.t.ter; when they are almost enough strinkle them over with a little shred parsley, and make your sauce of a little gravy, b.u.t.ter, anchovy, and a little oyster pickle if you have it; don't pour the sauce over your eels, put it into a china bason, and set it in the middle of your dish.

Garnish with crisp parsley, and serve them up.

209. _To boil_ HERRINGS.

Take your herring, scale and wash them, take out the milt and roan, skewer them round, and tie them with a string or else they will come loose in the boiling and be spoil'd; set on a pretty broad stew-pan, with as much water as will cover them, put to it a little salt, lie in you herrings with the backs downwards boil with them the milt and roans to lie round them; they will boil in half a quarter of an hour over a slow fire; when they are boiled take them up with an egg slice, so turn them over and set them to drain. Make your sauce of a little gravy and b.u.t.ter, an anchovy and a little boiled parsley shred; put it into the bason, set it in the middle of the dish, lie the herrings round with their tails towards the bason, and lie the milts and roans between every herring. Garnish with crisp parsley and lemon; so serve them up.

210. _To fry_ HERRINGS.

Scale and wash your herrings clean, strew over them a little flour and salt; let your b.u.t.ter be very hot before you put your herrings into the pan, then shake them to keep them stirring, and fry them over a brisk fire; when they are fried cut off the heads and bruise them, put to them a jill of ale, (but the ale must not be bitter) add a little pepper and salt, a small onion or shalot, if you have them, and boil them altogether; when they are boiled, strain them, and put them into your sauce-pan again, thicken them with a little flour and b.u.t.ter, put it into a bason, and set it in the middle of your dish; fry the milts and roans together, and lay round your herrings. Garnish your dish with crisp parsley, and serve it up.

211. _To pickle_ HERRINGS.

Scale and clean your herrings, take out the milts and roans, and skewer them round, season them with a little pepper and salt, put them in a deep pot, cover them with alegar, put to them a little whole Jamaica pepper, and two or three bay leaves; bake them and keep them for use.

212. _To stew_ OYSTERS.

Take a score or two of oysters, according as you have occasion, put them into a small stew-pan, with a few bread-crumbs, a little water, shred mace and pepper, a lump of b.u.t.ter, and a spoonful of vinegar, (not to make it four) boil them altogether but not over much, if you do it makes them hard. Garnish with bread fippets, and serve them up.

213. _To fry_ OYSTERS.

Take a score or two of the largest oysters you can get, and the yolks of four or five eggs, beat them very well, put to them a little nutmeg, pepper and salt, a spoonful of fine flour, and a little raw parsley shred, so dip in your oysters, and fry them in b.u.t.ter a light brown.

They are very proper to lie about either stew'd oysters, or any other fish, or made dishes.

214. OYSTERS _in_ SCALLOP Sh.e.l.lS.

Take half a dozen small scallop sh.e.l.ls, lay in the bottom of every sh.e.l.l a lump of b.u.t.ter, a few bread crumbs, and then your oysters; laying over them again a few more bread crumbs, a little b.u.t.ter, and a little beat pepper, so set them to crisp, either in the oven or before the fire, and serve them up.

They are proper for either a side-dish or middle-dish.

215 _To keep_ HERRINGS _all the Year_.

Take fresh herrings, cut off their heads, open and wash them very clean, season them with salt, black pepper, and Jamaica pepper, put them into a pot, cover them with white wine vinegar and water, of each an equal quant.i.ty, and set them in a slow oven to bake; tie the pot up close and they will keep a year in the pickle.

216. _To make artificial_ Sturgeon _another Way_.

Take out the bones of a turbot or britt, lay it in salt twenty four hours, boil it with good store of salt; make your pickle of white wine vinegar and three quarts of water, boil them, and put in a little vinegar in the boiling; don't boil it over much, if you do it will make it soft; when 'tis enough take it out till it be cold, put the same pickle to it, and keep it for use.

217. _To stew_ MUSHROOMS.

Take mushrooms, and clean them, the b.u.t.tons you may wash, but the flaps you must pill both inside and out; when you have cleaned them, pick out the little ones for pickling, and cut the rest in pieces for stewing; wash them and put them into a little water, give them a boil and it will take off the faintness, so drain from them all the water, then put them into a pan with a lump of b.u.t.ter, a little shred mace, pepper and salt to your taste (putting them to a little water) hang them over a slow fire for half an hour, when they are enough thicken them with a little flour; serve them up with sippets.

218. _To make_ ALMOND PUFFS.

Take a pound of almonds blanch'd, and beat them with orange-flower water, then take a pound of sugar, and boil them almost to a candy height, put in your almonds and stir them on the fire, keep them stirring till they be stiff, then take them off the fire and stir them till they be cold; beat them a quarter of an hour in a mortar, putting to them a pound of sugar sifted, and a little lemon-peel grated, make it into a paste with the whites of three eggs, and beat it into a froth more or less as you think proper; bake them in an oven almost cold, and keep them for use.

219. _To pot_ MUSHROOMS.

Take the largest mushrooms, sc.r.a.pe and clean them, put them into your pan with a lump of b.u.t.ter, and a little salt, let then stew over a slow fire whilst they are enough, put to them a little mace and whole pepper, then dry them with a cloth, and put them down into a pot as close as you can, and as you lie them down strinkle in a little salt and mace, when they are cold cover them over with b.u.t.ter; when you use them toss them up with gravy, a few bread-crumbs and b.u.t.ter; do not make your pot over large, but rather put them into two pots; they will keep the better if you take the gravy from them when they are stewed.

They are good for fish-sauce, or any other whilst they are fresh.

220. _To fry_ TROUT, _or any other Sort of Fish_.

Take two or three eggs, more or less according as you have fish to fry, take the fish and cut it in thin slices, lie it upon a board, rub the eggs over it with a feather, and strow on a little flour and salt, fry it in fine drippings or b.u.t.ter, let the drippings be very hot before you put in the fish, but do not let it burn, if you do it will make the fish black; when the fish is in the pan, you may do the other side with the egg, and as you fry it lay it to drain before the fire till all be fried, then it is ready for use.

221. _To make_ SAUCE _for_ SALMON _or_ TURBOT.

Boil your turbot or salmon, and set it to drain; take the gravy that drains from the salmon or turbot, an anchovy or two, a little lemon-peel shred, a spoonful of catchup, and a little b.u.t.ter, thicken it with flour the thickness of cream, put to it a little shred parsley and fennel; but do not put in your parsley and fennel till you be just going to send it up, for it will take off the green.

The gravy of all sorts of fish is a great addition to your sauce, if the fish be sweet.

222. _To dress_ COD'S ZOONS.

Lie them in water all night, and then boil them, if they be salt shift them once in the boiling, when they are tender cut them in long pieces, dress them up with eggs as you do salt fish, take one or two of them and cut into square pieces, dip them in egg and fry them to lay round your dish.

It is proper to lie about any other dish.

223. _To make_ SOLOMON GUNDY _to eat in Lent_

Take five or six white herrings, lay them in water all night, boil them as soft as you would do for eating, and shift them in the boiling to take out the saltness; when they are boiled take the fish from the bone, and mind you don't break the bone in pieces, leaving on the head and tail; take the white part of the herrings, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, a large apple, a little onion shred fine, or shalot, and a little lemon-peel, shred them all together, and lie them over the bones on both sides, in the shape of a herring; then take off the peel of a lemon very very thin, and cut it in long bits, just as it will reach over the herrings; you must lie this peel over every herring pretty thick. Garnish your dish with a few pickled oysters, capers, and mushrooms, if you have any; so serve them up.

224. SOLOMAN GUNDY _another Way_.