Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus | Page 6

pass through a sieve, add more water if too thick, and a spoonful of butter or several of sweet cream, season to taste, and serve with small squares of bread fried crisp in butter or olive oil.
FISH
~BOILED CODFISH, WITH CREAM SAUCE~--Take out the inside of a cod by the white skin of the belly, taking care to remove all blood. Place the fish in a kettle with salted cold water; boil fast at first, then slowly. When done take out and skin. Pour over it a sauce made as follows:
One-fourth pound butter put into a stewpan with one tablespoonful of flour, moistened with one pint of cream or rich milk, and salt and pepper, and also one teaspoonful essence of anchovies. Place the pan over the fire and let thicken, but not boil.
~BOILED MACKEREL~--Prepare and clean some mackerel. Put in water and boil until they are done. When cooked, drain and put the mackerel on a hot dish. Blanch some fennel in salted water. When it is soft drain and chop finely. Put one tablespoonful in half pint of butter sauce. Serve in a sauce boat with the fish.
~BOILED SALMON WITH SAUCE TARTARE~--Scrape the skin of the fish, wipe, and if you have no regular fish kettle with a perforated lid, tie in a piece of cheesecloth and place gently in a kettle of boiling salted water. Push the kettle back on the fire (where it will simmer gently, instead of boiling hard) and cook, allowing about six minutes to the pound. Remove carefully, drain, and chill. If the fish breaks and looks badly take out the bones, flake, pile lightly on the platter and pour the sauce over it. This may be a hot sauce Hollandaise or a cold sauce tartare.
~BROILED MACKEREL~--Draw and wash the mackerel. Cut off heads and rub over with salt and leave for an hour. Rub a gridiron with olive oil, lay the mackerel on it and broil over a charcoal fire. Place some chopped parsley and onions on a hot dish, with the hot fish, squeezing over the mackerel a little lemon juice. Serve hot.
~BROILED MACKEREL, WITH BLACK BUTTER~--Take some mackerel, open and remove bones. Season with butter, pepper, and salt. Place the fish on a gridiron and broil over a clear fire. Put a part of the butter in a saucepan and stir it over the fire until it is richly browned, squeezing into it a little lemon juice. Place the fish on a hot dish, arrange some sprigs of parsley around it, and pour over it the butter sauce, and serve hot.
~CODFISH CONES~--When it is not convenient to make and fry fish balls try this substitute. Pick enough salt codfish into shreds to measure two cups and let stand in cold water for two or more hours, then drain dry. Make a sauce from one cup of hot milk, two level tablespoons each of flour and butter, and cook five minutes. Mash and season enough hot boiled potatoes to measure two cups, add the sauce and the fish and beat well with a fork. Shape in small cones, set on a butter pan, brush with melted butter and scatter fine bread crumbs over. Set in oven to brown.
~CODFISH HASH~--Take a cup of cooked cod, pick in pieces and soak in cold water for twelve hours. Boil some potatoes and add them to the finely chopped fish, a little at a time. Put in a saucepan with some butter and stir. Let it cook gently.
~FINNAN HADDIE FISH CAKES~--The finnan haddie parboiled with an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, season with melted butter, salt and pepper, add a beaten egg, and mold into cakes.
~FISH, EAST INDIA STYLE~--Peel two medium-sized onions, cut into thin slices. Put in a stewpan with a small lump of butter and fry until lightly browned. Pour over them some white stock, judging the quantity by that of the fish; one ounce of butter, little curry powder, salt, lemon juice, a little sugar, and cayenne pepper. Boil the stock for fifteen or twenty minutes, then strain into a stewpan, skim and put in the fish, having it carefully prepared. Boil gently, without breaking the fish. Wash and boil half a cup of rice in water, and when cooked it should be dried and the grains unbroken. Turn the curry out on a hot dish, garnish with croutons of fried bread. Serve hot, with the rice in separate dish.
~FISH EN CASSEROLE~--One of those earthen baking dishes with close-fitting cover of the same ware and fit for placing on the table is especially useful for cooking fish. For instance, take two pounds of the thick part of cod or haddock, both of which are cheap fish. Take off the skin and lay in the casserole. Make a sauce from two cups of milk