The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 51

Make a stuffing of one cupful of bread-crumbs, one teaspoonful each of melted b.u.t.ter, Worcestershire sauce, tomato catsup, minced parsley, minced onion, minced olives or pickles, and lemon-juice. Add salt, black pepper, and paprika to taste, and sufficient cold water to moisten. Sew up the fish and bake as usual. Serve with Tartar Sauce.

BAKED Ba.s.s WITH SHRIMP SAUCE

Marinate the cleaned fish for an hour in oil and vinegar. Put into a baking-pan with slices of salt pork underneath and on top and sufficient boiling water to keep from burning. Add a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter to the water and baste two or three times during the hour of baking. Strain the gravy and set aside. Melt one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, add one tablespoonful of flour, and cook until brown. Add one cupful of the liquid left in the baking-pan, making up the required quant.i.ty with boiling water if necessary. Cook until thick, stirring constantly; season with cayenne and lemon-juice, and add half a can of shrimps chopped fine. Bring to the boil, pour over the fish, and serve.

BOILED Ba.s.s

Clean the fish, put it into warm salted water, and simmer for twenty minutes.

BOILED SEA-Ba.s.s WITH EGG SAUCE

Boil the fish according to directions previously given. Melt one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, add one tablespoonful of flour, and cook thoroughly. Add two cupfuls of the water in which the fish was boiled, and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Season with salt, pepper, minced parsley, and lemon-juice, add three hard-boiled eggs coa.r.s.ely chopped, pour over the fish, and serve.

COLD Ba.s.s WITH TARTAR SAUCE

Boil the fish in court bouillon and drain. Chop fine parsley, pickles, olives, and capers. Mix with a stiff mayonnaise and spread over the fish. Serve with a border of sliced cuc.u.mbers.

BAKED BLUEFISH a L'ITALIENNE

Score and scale the bluefish and put it into a b.u.t.tered pan with three tablespoonfuls each of white wine and mushroom liquor, a tablespoonful of chopped onion, half a dozen chopped mushrooms, and salt and pepper to season. Cover with b.u.t.tered paper and bake for fifteen minutes.

Take out the fish and add to the sauce half a teaspoonful of beef extract, dissolved in half a cupful of boiling water. Add a winegla.s.sful of white wine and thicken with one tablespoonful each of b.u.t.ter and browned flour. Pour the sauce over the fish, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.

BAKED BLUEFISH

Clean, sc.r.a.pe, and split the fish and take out the backbone. Gash the flesh and insert a thin slice of salt pork under the skin. Make a stuffing of one cupful of bread-crumbs, two tablespoonfuls of chopped salt pork, and salt, minced parsley, chopped onion, red pepper, kitchen bouquet, and tomato catsup to season. Add one egg well-beaten.

Fill the fish and sew up. Lay on thin slices of salt pork and bake, basting frequently with the fat. Garnish with cress and lemon.

STEAMED BLUEFISH

Season the fish with salt and pepper and pour over it a cupful of vinegar. Let stand for an hour, pour off the vinegar, and steam for twenty minutes. Serve with any preferred sauce.

BAKED CODFISH

Stuff the fish with seasoned crumbs and season with pepper and salt.

Pour over two cupfuls of sherry and a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup. Add two cupfuls of stock, cover with b.u.t.tered paper, and bake, basting often. When nearly done, sprinkle with bread-crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake until brown. Take up the fish carefully, add a teaspoonful of beef extract and a little anchovy paste to the liquor in the baking-pan, strain, add two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and the juice of half a lemon, bring to the boil, pour over the fish, and serve.

CODFISH a LA CReOLE

Flake one pound of cooked codfish, add to it one cupful of boiled rice, half a can of tomatoes strained, a chopped onion, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, and salt and pepper to season. Cook slowly for half an hour.

ESCALLOPED CODFISH AND MACARONI

Mix together equal parts of cooked and broken macaroni and flaked boiled cod. Mix with Cream Sauce. Fill a b.u.t.tered baking-dish, sprinkle thickly with grated cheese, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven.

BREADED CODFISH STEAKS

Season the steaks with salt, pepper, and lemon-juice, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Serve with any preferred sauce.

BOILED FINNAN HADDIE

Divide into convenient pieces, cover with boiling water, add a teaspoonful of sugar, and boil for fifteen minutes. Take up on a hot platter, remove the skin, and dot with b.u.t.ter.

BROILED FINNAN HADDIE

Cut the haddie into small squares, skin and parboil it. Wipe dry, broil on a b.u.t.tered gridiron and serve with melted b.u.t.ter.

CREAMED FINNAN HADDIE

Parboil, drain, and flake the fish. Reheat with shredded fried sweet peppers in a Cream Sauce. Canned pimentos may be used instead of the green peppers.

BROILED FROG LEGS

Soak the legs for half an hour in a marinade of oil and lemon-juice, seasoned with salt and pepper. Broil on a double-broiler, and serve with Maitre d'Hotel Sauce.

FROG LEGS a LA POULETTE

Season prepared frog legs with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and fry brown in b.u.t.ter. Add two small spoonfuls of flour and two cupfuls of cream.

Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add a winegla.s.sful of white wine, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, a tablespoonful of minced parsley, and the yolks of four eggs beaten smooth with the juice of a lemon.

Bring to the boil and serve.

HADDOCK RAREBIT

Cut the haddock into slices an inch thick. Free from bone and skin.

Lay in a greased baking-dish, and season with salt and pepper. Grate sufficient cheese to cover, and season with salt, red pepper, and mustard. Make to a smooth paste with cream or beaten egg. Put into a hot oven and cook until the cheese melts and browns, and the fish is firm. Take up carefully on a platter, and pour one tablespoonful of Sherry over each slice.

HADDOCK AND OYSTERS

Clean and fillet a haddock. Cover the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs with water and add the liquor drained from a pint of oysters. Add a slice of onion, a pinch of powdered sweet herbs, and a slice of carrot; simmer to form a stock. Put a layer of sliced onion into a saucepan, and arrange upon it the fillets of fish and a pint of oysters; sprinkle with salt and pepper, add the juice of a lemon, cover with sliced onion, strain the stock over, cover and simmer until the fillets are tender. Arrange the fillets on a hot dish with the oysters, strain the liquid, thicken it with the yolks of four eggs, pour over, and serve.