7. Skate Soup.
Well skin and wash two pounds of skate—the cheaper parts are the best for soup—boil in three pints of water for about two hours very gently.
Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in two ounces of butter a delicate golden colour; now add the soup to this with one pint of milk, three bay-leaves, twelve cloves, a blade of mace, and a stick of cinnamon, pepper and salt to taste. Let it simmer for half an hour, strain through a wire sieve, take the meat of the fish, and put neat pieces of it in the soup. Serve hot with toasted bread cut into neat pieces.