Part 50

Rissolettes.--Boil as many oysters as you may require in their own liquor, taking care that they are not too much done; a very few minutes will be enough. Take off the beards, return them to the liquor, taking them out of it again with a perforated ladle. The liquor must stand a short time to allow the sand to settle; pour it carefully into another basin through a fine strainer, that there may be no chance of any grit. Make a thickening of butter and flour, moistening it with the liquor. When the sauce is very thick, add a spoonful or two of cream and the same of good white stock; cut the oysters into dice and mix them with the sauce, which must be sufficiently thick to hold them together in a sort of paste. Season with a little salt and a very little cayenne pepper. If the flavour of mushrooms be liked, 2 or 3 may be cut into dice and fried in butter, dusted over with flour, and then mixed with the oysters. Make up into rissolettes, using puff paste rolled thin, and cutting them into small three-corner-shaped turnovers, putting about a teaspoonful of the oyster mixture into each. Brush over lightly with yolk of egg, bake in a quick oven, and serve piled up on a napkin in a dish garnished with parsley.

Roasted.--Large oysters will be found very nice if roasted in their shells. This operation is sometimes performed by simply putting the wretched oyster on the embers alive, and thus converting his own coat into a cooking pot. A far better plan is to open the oyster in the hollow shell, taking care to preserve the liquor. To every oyster give a little piece of butter, put on the flat shell as a lid, and then lay the oysters on the embers on a gridiron, or put them in a tin into the oven, taking care not to overcook them. When they are done administer to each a dash of lemon juice, and 2 or 3 grains of cayenne; replace the top shells, and serve instantly.

Sausages.--Beard the oysters and chop them very fine. To this add finely pounded breadcrumbs, sweet marjoram, parsley, and seasoning to taste, and mix it to a stiff paste with the yolk of an egg or two. Cut this into pieces the length and breadth of your thumb, and fry these a delicate brown. Serve on a napkin with fried parsley, or round mashed potato.

Scalloped.--Parboil 2 doz. oysters in their own liquor, beard them and cut them in half. Butter some scallop shells, fill them with a mixture of half breadcrumbs and half oysters, adding pepper and salt to taste, and a grate of nutmeg. Strain the liquor and divide it between the number of scallop shells you have, put a piece of butter in each shell, a few drops of lemon juice, and cover up with breadcrumbs, pressing down contents of each shell. Put into a very brisk oven till top is well browned.

Skewered (Hâtelets).--Beard 2 doz. oysters, and let them steep for some time in their own liquor. Cut some fat bacon into rounds, and place these and the oysters alternately on skewers, taking care to finish, as you began, with a round of bacon. Season with pepper and salt, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry a light brown. Serve on a napkin with fried parsley, or in a dish with the following sauce: Simmer the beards for 5 minutes in the oyster liquor, strain it, and add ¼ pint stock (fish stock is best); thicken with flour and butter, with a pinch of Nepaul pepper, salt to taste, and a little lemon juice. Give it one boil before adding the lemon juice, and serve.

Soufflé.--Mix 3 oz. flour and 3 oz. butter smoothly over the fire, add 1 pint good milk, and stir till it boils and thickens. Pour half the sauce aside in a basin. To the half in the pan add a score of oysters, roughly chopped and bearded, ½ oz. butter, the liquor from the oysters, 1 dessertspoonful anchovy, the same, or a little more, lemon juice, a grain of Nepaul pepper, and a little salt. Mix all well together, stirring in the well-beaten yolks of 4 eggs; then add lightly the whites of 6 eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Butter a plain tin mould, tie a band of buttered paper round it, and pour in the mixture which should little more than half fill it. Steam for 1½ hour, and serve very hot.

Steamed.--Lay them in a potato steamer over boiling water, cover with a plate to keep the steam in, and cook for 10 minutes. Then serve quickly in the shell, and on a very hot dish, with fried brown bread and lemon or vinegar.

Stewed.--Take 1 pint milk, thicken with 1 dessertspoonful of cornflour, and stir in 1 oz. butter; season well, add a dozen oysters, and stew gently for ½ hour. When serving, garnish the stew with sippets of bread soaked in lemon juice and fried in butter.

Toast.--Chop 20 oysters roughly, and mix with them 2 anchovies, washed and boned (paste or essence will do), mix well with a little cream or the yolk of an egg, and thicken with a little butter rolled in flour, and a grain of cayenne; boil up and serve on hot buttered toast.

_Pilchard_ (Pie).--Cut the white part of 4 or 5 leeks into pieces, and scald them in boiling water with salt. Soak in water all night 3 or 4 slightly salted pilchards, clean them, and cut off the tails and fins, and put them in a pie-dish with the leeks in layers, seasoning to taste. Cover the pie with crust, and bake it in a moderate oven. In the country where this recipe comes from cream is cheap, and it is recommended to raise the crust, to pour off the gravy, and to add instead one cupful of hot cream just before serving.

_Plaice_ (Plie).--Plaice have little to recommend them beyond their cheapness. There are two distinct kinds, those with the black backs being generally preferred to the spotted variety. The flesh of both is soft, and lacks the exquisite delicacy and firm springy texture of turbot and brill; but still, if stewed in the same manner as brill, they are fair eating. Fried plaice is a well-known article of commerce in the by-ways of London, where the operation of frying is successfully performed. The secret is that the fish are fried in good oil, and that the temperature is duly attended to. See Sole.

_Perch_ (Perche).--Perch are delicate, especially when caught in a swiftly-running river, and may be eaten fried, or in water souchet, and shine especially in the latter form.

Clean the fish through as small an opening as is practicable, and lay them, without scaling, on a well-oiled gridiron on a brisk fire; keep turning them until you judge they are done, and send up to table with them, in a sauce boat, some liquefied butter, to which pepper, salt, and the juice of a lemon have been added. There should be one perch for each person. Stewed: see Carp, Trout.

_Pike_ (Brochet).--When they exceed 4-5 lb. in weight, they are excessively coarse and hardly worth carriage, but those of small or moderate size are not to be despised when stuffed with a veal stuffing--into which a liberal supply of lemon peel has entered--and baked.

Baked with Sour Cream.--Cut the pike in neat slices. Place them in an earthen baking dish with some butter at the bottom; divide 2 bay leaves into pieces, and put them with slices of onion between the fish; strew with salt, and pour over ½ pint sour cream. Bake about 20 minutes in a quick oven, basting at intervals; then strew over some fine breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese, bake a few minutes more till delicately coloured, dish without breaking the slices, but take away the bay leaf and onions. Pour enough broth or water into the baking dish to make a sauce; add pepper, salt, lemon juice, or vinegar; stir well round the crusting, and pour it over the fish.

Boiled.--Rub off the slime with salt and water, cut away gills and fins, draw, &c., and put into a fish kettle a handful of salt, 2 dr. cloves, also of mace, 2 sliced nutmegs, the peel of a lemon, and a small quantity of ginger peeled and sliced, 2 dr. whole pepper, 4 or 5 onions, a faggot of sweet herbs, equal quantities of rosemary, marjoram, thyme, winter savory and parsley, enough liquor, 3 parts water and one white wine, to cover the fish. Let it boil, put in the fish, and cook slowly. When done drain the liquor from it, and dish with the herbs and spices on it, sliced lemons and lemon peel, and with either of the following sauces: Sauce.--(1) To 1 ladleful melted butter add 2 of the boiling liquor in which the fish was cooked. (2) Add to the above some slices of lemon, and an anchovy or two pounded quite smooth. Garnish the fish with powdered ginger. (3) Add to the above some oysters, some sliced horseradish, and a small quantity of white wine, lastly, add the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs.

Broiled: see Carp.

Carbonade.--Slices of pike, neatly cut and cleared of skin and bone, must be coated with fine herbs and oiled butter; after which sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and ladle over some beaten egg with a spoon. Bake them a pale brown, and serve with a good sprinkling of lemon juice and a little gravy made in the baking dish.

Fried.--Choose small pike not more than 15 in. long, fry them until brown and crisp, drain off the butter, and put them into a pan with nutmeg, sliced ginger, a few anchovies, salt, and just sufficient claret to cover them. Boil until the liquor be half consumed, then add a piece of butter and a sliced lemon or orange. Serve on a dish previously rubbed with shallot, and garnish with lemon or orange.

Larded.--Choose a large fish. When cleaned, lard it thickly over with fresh bacon; put butter in a baking-dish with a little water; lay in the fish in a ring, with the tail in its mouth, and bake in a brisk oven; when half-done, strew fine breadcrumbs over, with pepper and salt; baste occasionally, and when done a delicate brown move the fish carefully on to a flat dish; pour into the baking-dish a brown caper sauce or a sardine sauce; add a good sprinkling of lemon juice; scrape in the crusting of the dish; pour the sauce over the fish, and serve.

Roast.--Stuff a large pike with veal stuffing, rather highly seasoned, and sew it up. Skewer its tail into its mouth and put it in a round baking tin. Pour over a teacupful of cream, and roast it in the oven, basting it frequently. Serve in a tureen melted butter sauce, with the liquor out of the dish added, and the juice of half a lemon. Hake would be good cooked in this way; one of moderate size must be chosen if it is to be cooked whole.

Soused: see Carp.

Stewed.--Having cleaned and scaled the pike, lay it in plenty of salted water. Put a good-sized piece of butter in a stewpan, with a large tablespoonful of chopped parsley and either a shallot, an onion, a clove of garlic, or some minced chives, 2 slices of lemon, 2 or 3 cloves, salt and pepper; cut up the fish into good-sized pieces. A pike of about 4 lb. weight is best this way. Add a glass of wine, the same of vinegar, and a large cup of broth or water to the stewed herbs. Lay in the fish packed closely together, cover, and let it simmer about ½ hour. Mix 3 or 4 yolks of eggs, with a cup of milk or cream, pour this over the fish; strew in breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce. Let it come to the boil; dish the fish carefully, put a piece of butter to melt in the sauce, and pour it over.

_Prawns_ (Crevettes).--Prawns are in this country generally boiled for about 10 minutes, and served cold. Very pretty they look when built up over a _buisson_ of parsley, and very nice they taste as a preparation for more serious dishes. In India and America, where they grow to a very large size, prawns are often curried or served in an _omelette_. In both of these cases they are first boiled, allowed to cool, and carefully picked. For an _omelette_ they are then tossed in butter seasoned with a little pepper, and inserted into the fold of the _omelette_, and in curry are treated precisely like curried lobster. In the first form they are exquisitely delicate; in the second simply delicious.

Aspic.--Make a savoury jelly with 2-3 lb. knuckle of veal, an oxfoot, some lean bacon, carrots, onions, shallots, a faggot of herbs, spices, pepper, and salt, and 2 qt. water; stew till quite strong, strain, when cold remove all fat, and clear with the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, and a glass of sherry; strain through a jelly bag, and when nearly set pour a little into a jelly mould, put a layer of cooked prawns, another layer of jelly and so on, filling up the mould with alternate layers of jelly and prawns; when quite firm (it will require icing) dip the mould in hot water for an instant, and turn it out very carefully. Crayfish may be cooked in the same way.

_Roach_ (Gardon, rosse).--Broiled: see Carp; Stewed: see Carp, Trout.

_Salmon_ (Saumon).--A good fresh salmon is stiff, is bright and clear in the scale, and has a small head. When the head looks long and the jaws are hooked at the ends, it is no longer desirable. The fish should be thick and deep, and the flesh of a fine pink colour, and very firm. Flabbiness in substance, and a crimson or purplish colour, are infallible indices of a fish out of condition. Salmon may be eaten advantageously with shrimp or with _Hollandaise_ sauce, with caper sauce, with simple _beurre fondu_, or perhaps best of all with fennel sauce.

À la Montpelier.--Take 6-8 lb. of the middle of a large salmon, put it into a braizing pan with 3 qt. stock, 2 qt. water, and ½ bottle chablis, with sliced carrots and onions, 6 bay leaves, some basil, thyme, and ¼ oz. fresh butter. Put it on the fire, and let it just boil, then withdraw it, and let it braize gently for 1 hour. Take equal proportions of chives and parsley, and a fourth part of anchovy. Blanch and then pound them in a mortar with fresh butter and cayenne to taste; when reduced to a smooth paste, pass it through a hair sieve, and put it on ice. When the salmon is cold, take it out of the braize and drain it, then cover it evenly with the above mixture. Serve ornamented with lobster spawn and aspic jelly, with truffles and chopped whites of egg.

Au bleu.--Cut the salmon into slices not quite 1 in. thick. If trout be used, let it be gutted by the gills, and not scaled, but only well washed. Lay the fish in a deep dish, pour over it about a teacupful of boiling vinegar, more or less, according to the quantity. Let the fish soak in this for an hour; then take it out, fold it in a nice clean piece of linen, place it in a stewpan with a piece of butter, an onion and a carrot thinly sliced, a bunch of parsley, a shallot, 2 bay leaves, a sprig of basil, spice, pepper, and salt to taste, 1 pint red wine (vin ordinaire), and a little broth. Let all simmer gently till the fish is cooked enough; the weight of the fish must decide the time. Let the fish remain in the liquor till cool, then serve it dry on a napkin, with the following sauce: 1 part vinegar to 2 of oil, with equal quantities of sorrel, chives, and chervil, chopped small, but not very fine.

Au gratin.--Take 2 slices salmon, about 1 in. thick, lay them in a buttered tin, having first sprinkled them on both sides with pepper and salt, put a few pieces of butter on them, and over all a sheet of buttered paper. Place the tin in the oven for ¼ hour, then take out the slices, lay them on a dish, pour the butter over them, and sprinkle them all over with grated Parmesan cheese, and a very little fine baked breadcrumbs on the top. Place the dish in the oven for 10 minutes, and serve in the same dish.

Boiled.--Put the fish--scaled and cleaned--into a fish kettle with sufficient cold water to cover it well, and with salt in the proportion of 1 lb. to 6 qt.; boil it quickly, skim carefully, and let it simmer till quite done. Remove it from the water, drain, brush the outer skin lightly with salad oil, and serve on a hot dish, with cut lemon and parsley.

Broiled.--Salmon for broiling should be cut in slices not more than 1 in. thick. These may be floured, dusted with a little pepper and salt, broiled on a gridiron previously rubbed with butter, and served with plain butter or anchovy sauce; but a better method is to rub the slices of salmon with a salad oil, instead of adopting the ancient process of flouring. Another and perhaps still better plan is--after drying the slices of fish thoroughly, to season them with a little pepper and salt, and a _soupçon_ of grated nutmeg. Then take some sheets of white paper, considerably larger--when doubled--than the steaks, and anoint them either with butter or with oil. Wrap each slice of salmon in a sheet of paper, and fasten the paper by turning up a rim and pinching it over. Broil gently over a very clear fire for about 20 minutes, and serve on a very hot dish. See Carp.

Boudin.--Take equal quantities cold boiled salmon and breadcrumbs. Put the salmon, finely flaked and picked free from bone and skin, into a mortar; pound it, pass it through a sieve, and return it to the mortar, then work into it half its bulk of butter, the breadcrumbs soaked in milk and squeezed dry; season with pepper, salt, and nutmeg; then work in sufficient eggs, in the proportion of 2 yolks and 1 white, to bind the mixture. Put it into buttered moulds, and steam it for ½ hour in a saucepan full of boiling water. Serve with Dutch sauce.

Cakes.--Pound about 1 lb. cold boiled salmon free of skin, with about the same quantity of cold boiled potatoes, taking care first to remove any eyes or dark-coloured specks there may be; with these beat up some pounded spawn of lobster, an egg, and a little milk. Season with salt and pepper and a few grains of cayenne. Then, with 2 little flour, roll into cakes, and fry them a nice brown. Dress them, set round on a napkin in a dish, garnished with fried parsley.

Chaud-froid.--Cut a slice about 4 in. thick from a fine salmon. Wrap it round with thin slices of fat bacon, first detaching the skin, by passing a sharp knife under it, from the fish, without removing it, and placing a piece of carrot wrapped in bacon in the hollow of the slice to keep it in shape; tie it firmly round with string. Set it on a small strainer, and place this in a stewpan. Have ready a sauce made by putting into a stewpan ¼ lb. chopped suet, ¼ lb. fat bacon, with some sprigs of parsley, 2 small onions and 1 carrot, both to be sliced, 2 cloves, the juice of half a lemon, a saltspoonful of pepper, and a little salt. Let these remain on the fire about 10 minutes, stirring them carefully during the time to prevent their getting brown; add as much water as may be necessary to use for boiling the salmon in, and let it boil for 1 hour, strain it and let it get cool, when it will be ready to pour over the fish into the stewpan. This stewpan should be no larger than absolutely necessary, or a very large quantity of the sauce would be required in which to boil the fish. Set the stewpan on a moderate fire for about ¾ hour; remove it, and let the fish remain in the liquor till nearly cold; then remove it to an earthen strainer on a dish, and set it aside to become quite cold and firm. Take the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 anchovies, a dessertspoonful of capers, 2 green gherkins, a few chives, and some sprigs of parsley and tarragon, previously washed and well freed from water; pound all these well together in a mortar, and then mix in 2 oz. fresh butter, very gradually adding 2 tablespoonfuls salad oil, and 1 dessertspoonful tarragon vinegar; season with pepper and salt. Rub this all through a sieve and if too soft set it on the ice for a short time until sufficiently firm for use. Cut a slice of bread 1 in. thick, shape it into an oval form to suit the form of the salmon, fry it in butter a light colour, and spread some of the prepared butter all over it with a knife dipped in warm water. Place this on the dish in which it is to be served, set the fish on it, and spread the upper part of it with a rather thin coating of the same butter, smoothing it well with the blade of a knife. Cut a truffle into slices, and with a cutter stamp it into leaves, circles, &c. Some thin slices of white of hard-boiled egg should be stamped out in the same way, and be used for ornamenting the fish. A little bright red spawn of lobster should also be tastefully added here and there on the fish. The dish should be garnished with slices of cold aspic jelly cut into three-cornered pieces, and laid slightly one over the other to form a ring round the salmon.

Croquettes.--Carefully pick out the flesh of some remnants of boiled salmon and mince it slightly. Melt a piece of butter in a saucepan, add the smallest quantity of flour and some hot milk. Stir on the fire a minute or so, then add pepper, salt, a little grated nutmeg, some minced parsley, and lastly the fish; shake it well, and as soon as the fish is hot take the saucepan off the fire, and stir in the yolk of an egg beaten up with the juice of half a lemon; now spread out the mixture on a plate to get cold; when cold divide it in tablespoonfuls, and fashion them all in breadcrumbs into the shape of balls; roll these in beaten-up egg, breadcrumb them well and, after the lapse of about an hour, fry in very hot lard, serving with fried parsley.

Cutlets.--Take a piece of salmon 4 in. thick, remove the bones and skin carefully, cut it in slices ½ in. thick and flatten each on the chopping board with a cutlet bat or common chopper dipped in water. From these slices cut as many neatly-shaped cutlets of a uniform shape as is possible. Place them quite flat on a well-buttered baking tin, sprinkle butter and salt over them, and ten minutes before they are wanted put them into the oven, with a sheet of buttered white paper over them. Place all the trimmings of the salmon into a saucepan, with carrots, onions, thyme, a bay leaf, some parsley, pepper, and salt, and a pint of stock. Let this boil for ½ hour; melt a small piece of butter, add to it about a teaspoonful of flour; stir it till it begins to colour; then strain into it the above sauce, and add a little chopped parsley. Cut a large cucumber in rounds 1 in. long, cut each round into 4 quarters, remove the seeds and rind, and trim each piece to a uniform shape; then throw them into boiling water with a little salt; let them boil until nearly cooked. Strain, and throw into cold water, then strain again and put into a saucepan with a little butter, pepper, salt, and chopped parsley, to be kept covered up, and warm until wanted. To dish up, pour the sauce on a dish, arrange the cutlets slanting, overlapping each other round it, and fill the hollow space in the middle with the cucumber.

Devilled.--Some thin slices of kippered salmon, 3 captain’s biscuits in clarified butter or olive oil and some devil mixture. Soak some thin captain’s biscuits in clarified butter or olive oil, rub each side over well with the mixture, and toast them on the gridiron over a clear fire. Put them on a hot dish, place on each a very thin slice of kippered salmon, and brown with a salamander or before the fire. Serve quickly and very hot.

Grilled.--Grilled salmon may be served with many sauces. Plain _beurre fondu_ is a very good accompaniment, as is also a rich _maître d’hôtel_. _Sauce périgueux_, _sauce ravigote_, _sauce piquante_, _italienne_, and _sauce indienne_, are also frequently served; but perhaps the very best sauce of all to a salmon steak or cutlet is _tartare_, whose most formidable rival is the shallot sauce, known as _biérnaise_. French cooks are very fond of submitting salmon steaks to a preliminary bath in a _marinade_, composed of oil, salt, sliced onions, and plenty of parsley.