Baked Cod.
Scrape and wash clean a cod weighing four or five pounds. Rub into it a heaping spoonful of salt. Make a dressing of three pounded crackers, a little chopped salt-pork about one teaspoonful of parsley, a little salt and pepper, and two tablespoonfuls of cold water. Stuff the belly with this, and fasten together with a skewer. Lay thin slices of pork on the fish, which should be placed on a tin sheet that will fit loosely into the baking-pan; dredge with flour. Pour into the pan about half a pint of cold water. Baste the fish often while cooking, with the water which is in the pan. If the water cooks away, add more, but do not have too much to begin with, or the fish will be boiled instead of being baked. Bake one hour. When the fish is cooked, turn the gravy into a bowl, then lift out the fish upon the tin sheet (from which you can easily slide it into the dish upon which you serve it); now turn your gravy into your baking-pan again, and place it on the fire; when it comes to a boil, thicken with a tablespoonful of flour, season with pepper and salt.
N. B. Always use a tin sheet in the baking-pan when cooking fish, as you then can preserve the shape.