FRIED MACKAREL. Stuff the fish with grated bread, minced parsley and lemon peel, pepper and salt, nutmeg, and the yolk of an egg, all mixed together. Serve with anchovy and fennel sauce. Or split the fish open, cut off their heads, season and hang them up four or five hours, and then broil them. Make the sauce of fennel and parsley chopped fine, and mixed with melted butter.
FRIED OYSTERS. To prepare a garnish for boiled fish, make a batter of flour, milk, and eggs. Season it a very little, dip the oysters into the batter, and fry them of a fine yellow brown. A little nutmeg should be put into the seasoning, and a few crumbs of bread into the flour.
FRIED PARSLEY. Pick some young parsley very clean, and put it into a fryingpan with a bit of butter. Stir it with a knife till it becomes crisp, and use it for garnishing. Or rub the picked parsley in a cloth to clean it, and set it before the fire in a Dutch oven till it is crisp. This is better than fried parsley, and may be rubbed on steaks, calf's liver, or any other dish of the kind.
FRIED PATTIES. Mince a bit of cold veal, and six oysters; mix them with a few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and a very small bit of lemon peel. Add the liquor of the oysters, warm all together in a tosser, but it must not boil, and then let it grow cold. Prepare a good puff-paste, roll it thin, and cut it into round or square pieces. Put some of the mixture between two of them, twist the edges to keep in the gravy, and fry them of a fine brown. If baked, it becomes a fashionable dish. All patties should be washed over with egg before they are baked.
FRIED POTATOES. Slice them thin, and fry them in butter till they are brown; then lay them in a dish, and pour melted butter over them. Potatoes may likewise be fried in butter, and served up with powder sugar strewed over them. Any kind of fruit may be fried in the same manner, and all batter should be fried in hog's lard.
FRIED RABBIT. Cut it into joints, and fry it in butter of a nice brown. Send it to table with fried or dried parsley, and gravy or liver sauce.
FRIED SMELTS. Wipe them clean, take away the gills, rub them over with a feather dipped in egg, and strew on some grated bread. Fry them in hog's lard over a clear fire, and put them in when the fat is boiling hot. When they are of a fine brown, take them out and drain off the fat. Garnish with fried parsley and lemon.
FRIED SOLES. Divide two or three soles from the backbone, and take off the head, fins, and tail. Sprinkle the inside with salt, roll them up tight from the tail and upwards, and fasten with small skewers. Small fish do not answer, but if large or of a tolerable size, put half a fish in each roll. Dip them into yolks of eggs, and cover them with crumbs. Egg them over again, and then put more crumbs. Fry them of a beautiful colour in lard, or in clarified butter. Or dip the soles in egg, and cover them with fine crumbs of bread. Set on a fryingpan of the proper size, and put into it a good quantity of fresh lard or dripping. Let it boil, and immediately put the fish into it, and do them of a fine brown. Soles that have been fried, eat good cold with oil, vinegar, salt and mustard.
FRIED TENCH. Scale and clean the fish well, dry and lay them before the fire, dust them with flour, and fry them in dripping or hog's lard. Serve with crisped parsley, and plain butter. Perch, trout, and grayling may be done the same.
FRIED TURBOT. Cut a small turbot across in ribs, dry and flour it, put it into a fryingpan, and cover it with boiling lard. Fry it brown, and drain it. Clean the pan, put in a little wine, an anchovy, salt, nutmeg, and a little ginger. Put in the fish, and stew it till the liquor is half wasted. Then take it out, put in some butter rolled in flour, with a minced lemon, and simmer them to a proper thickness. Rub a hot dish with a piece of shalot, lay the turbot in the dish, and pour the sauce over it.