Noodles

1 egg
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
Flour to make a stiff dough

Beat the egg until it is evenly mixed, add a little flour, through which the salt has been mixed. Gradually add more flour until a dough is made that can be rolled out very thin. Knead it a few minutes, then roll it as thin as possible. Let it stand for fifteen or twenty minutes covered with a towel, then roll it like jelly-roll and cut, from the end of the roll, very narrow slices. Unroll these strips and lay them on a board, covered lightly with a towel or clean cloth, to dry. When perfectly dry they are ready to use, or may be put away in covered cans or boxes and kept in a cool place.

If noodles are used as a vegetable they should be prepared as macaroni, except that they must not be soaked before cooking.

Egg Balls

4 eggs, cooked
1 egg, raw
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter
¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper

Put the eggs into enough cold water to more than cover them (at least one quart for every four eggs), bring this to a boil and put it into a cooker for twenty minutes. Drop the eggs into cold water, take off the shells and when they are cold carefully remove the whites, leaving the yolks whole. These may be dropped into soup as they are, or they may be mashed, mixed with the butter and salt and enough egg yolk, or egg white or whole egg, beaten, to moisten them, so that they may be moulded into balls about the size of a hard-cooked yolk. Roll these in flour and sauté them in butter.

Forcemeat Balls

¹⁄₄ cup fine, soft crumbs
¹⁄₄ cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
²⁄₃ cup raw fish or meat
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter

Cook the bread and milk to a paste, cool it, add the beaten egg and fish or meat, forced through a fine meat-chopper or chopped and then ground fine with a mortar and pestle. Mould it into balls, lay them in a pan with the flour and shake it until the balls are floured; then sauté them with the butter, shaking the pan carefully from time to time, till the balls are browned on all sides. Or the balls may be dropped into boiling soup and put into the cooker for one-half hour.

Croûtons

Cut slices of bread one-half inch thick, spread thinly with butter. Cut the slices into strips one-half inch wide, and these into dice one-half inch thick. Put them into a baking-pan, and brown them in a hot oven, stirring them about frequently that they may be brown evenly. Add them to the soup just before serving, or pass them after serving.

Soup Sticks

Prepare the bread exactly as for croûtons, except that the strips of bread are not cut into dice. If desired the strips may be sprinkled with grated cheese after they are cut. Lay them side by side with enough space between them to allow them to brown on the sides. Serve them as an accompaniment to soup.

Crisp Crackers

Split plain, thick crackers; spread the rough sides slightly with butter, and brown them delicately in a hot oven.

XI
FISH

To tell fresh fish. The flesh of fresh fish is firm, and will rise quickly if pressed with the finger; the eyes are bright, and the gills red. Frozen fish may be kept for a long time, but must be used at once when thawed, as it spoils more quickly than fresh fish. Thaw frozen fish in cold water.

Care of fish. Clean it and wipe it, inside and out, with a cloth dipped in strongly salted water. Do not put steaks or cutlets of fish into the water. Lay it on a plate on cracked ice, or in a cool place. It must not be kept in an ice-box unless wrapped in two thicknesses of brown paper, or it will impart an odour to milk, butter, and other foods.

To clean a fish. Before opening it remove the scales by scraping slowly from the tail toward the head, holding the knife nearly flat on the fish. Rinse the knife frequently in cold water. Open the fish on the under side, cutting a slit from the gills half-way down the body. Remove the entrails clear to the backbone, scraping the inside if necessary.

To skin a fish. Cut a slit down the back to the tail, on both sides of the dorsal fins, deep enough to take them out. Insert a sharp-pointed knife under the skin as near the gills as possible. Holding the head by the bony part near the gills, work the knife down toward the tail.

Cooking of fish. Fish is sufficiently cooked when the flesh will easily flake away from the bones. If boiled too long, it becomes soft and watery. An acid flavour is palatable with fish, and for this reason slices of lemon or an acid sauce are often served with it.

Left-over boiled fish may be served in a variety of ways, as creamed fish, scalloped fish, fish soufflé, croquettes, casserole of fish, etc.

TABLE OF THE SEASONS, ETC., OF FRESH-WATER FISH

NAME OF FISH	WEIGHT	IN SEASON
Salmon	5 or 6 lbs., or more	May to Sept.
Shad	3 lbs., or more	Jan. to June
White fish	4 lbs.	Winter
Bass	3 to 8 lbs.	Always
Perch	Average 8 to a lb.	Summer
Pickerel	1 to 4 lbs.	Always
Brook Trout		Apr. to Aug.
Lake Trout	4 to 9 lbs.	Apr. to Aug.
Pike		Summer

TABLE OF SEASONS, ETC., OF SALT-WATER FISH

NAME OF FISH	WEIGHT	IN SEASON
Cod	3 to 20 lbs.	Always
Haddock	5 to 8 lbs.	Always
Black Bass	3 lbs.	Aug. to Mar.
Cusk	5 to 8 lbs.	Winter
Halibut		Always
Flounders	¹⁄₂ to 5 lbs.	Always
Red snapper	4 lbs., or more	Late winter
Bluefish	4 to 8 lbs.	June to Oct.
Tautog		July to Sept.
Sturgeon		Summer
Swordfish		July to Sept.
Weakfish	3 to 5 lbs.	Winter
Mackerel	³⁄₄ to 2 lbs.	May to Sept.
Turbot		Jan. to Mar.
Herring	6 or 8 to a lb.	Mar. and Apr.
Smelts	Average 8 to a lb.	Sept. to Mar.
Lobsters	1 to 2 lbs.	Always
Oysters		Sept. to May
Clams		Always
Crabs		Summer