[136]. Scallops of White-Fish à la Provençale. Cut a white-fish of four pounds into round pieces, or in the shape of an egg, and about three inches in length; put them in a dish with a clove of garlic, a little thyme, three bay-leaves, two roots of parsley, an onion cut in thin slices, salt and pepper, and moisten them with a sherry-glass of oil: then peel three white onions, which cut in slices, blanch them in boiling water, with a little salt; drain them and put them in a frying-pan on the fire, with a wineglass of oil, which heat thoroughly, and, when beginning to color slightly, drain off the oil, and moisten with half a bottle of white wine. Then drain your fish, which put in the saucepan with your onions. Simmer gently for thirty minutes, drain, and in the liquor in which your fish was cooked put a tablespoonful of tomato sauce, reduce gently about one third, pour over your fish, and serve.
[137]. Eels en Matelote. Clean an eel, a pike, and a perch; cut them in slices; place them in a saucepan with a clove of garlic, two bay-leaves, two branches of thyme, three cloves, a little basil, and a few branches of parsley; add enough red wine to cover your fish. Put them on a very gentle fire, and, when beginning to boil, add a wineglass of brandy. Shake gently, so as not to break your fish, and, after boiling fifteen minutes, drain off your fish, and keep them hot. Put on a table half an ounce of flour and an ounce of butter; mix well together with the blade of a knife, and add to the liquid in which your fish was boiled. Peel and press through a sieve twenty small white onions, which put in a frying-pan, with a little butter, on a very gentle fire; add them, with a dozen mushrooms, to your fish, which heat up again. Take the ingredients in which your fish was first cooked, and place them in a dish, your fish on top. Garnish with some boiled crawfish, and some pieces of bread cut in triangles, and fried in butter.
[138]. Red Snapper à la Chambord. Take a red snapper, about four pounds in weight. Remove the scales, and on one side of the fish cut a square in the skin, which take out, and in the flesh insert two dozen pieces of truffles, cut in squares, and pointed at one end. Over this tie a thin piece of larding pork. Put your fish in a fish-kettle, surround it with a sliced carrot and onion, three cloves of garlic, six bay-leaves, six cloves, six branches of thyme, four parsley-roots, and cover the fish with half a bottle of white wine and a quart of consommé (stock, [Art. 1]); put it on the fire until boiling, and then send it to a gentle oven to cook slowly for an hour, basting it often with its own liquor, on the side studded with truffles. Take half a pint of Spanish sauce ([Art. 80]), to which add two wineglasses of the liquid in which your fish was cooked, put your sauce on the fire to boil, skim off the grease, and strain; then put it back again on the fire for a few moments, adding a dozen mushrooms, a dozen quenelles ([Art. 11]), as many truffles cut in quarters, a dozen crawfish, and the same of chicken's kidneys which you have previously blanched in hot water, with a little salt, for ten minutes. Lay your fish on a dish, pour your sauce around it, and serve.
[139]. Ray, with Caper Sauce. Cook your fish as the foregoing, with the exception of the truffles, and serve with it a white sauce ([Art. 84]), to which add some capers.
[140]. Ray, au Beurre Noir. Cut in moderate-sized pieces four pounds of ray-fish, which put in a saucepan with an onion cut in slices, three parsley-roots, four cloves, six pepper-corns, half an ounce of salt, and four tablespoonfuls of vinegar. When beginning to boil, put your saucepan at the back of the range for thirty minutes, so as not to boil. Then take off the skin from both sides of your fish, which put in the saucepan with your other ingredients to keep hot. Put in a frying-pan four ounces of butter, and, when colored black, fry a dozen sprigs of parsley for a moment, remove them, and add to your butter two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Strain your fish, which arrange on a dish, garnish with the fried parsley, pour the black butter over the fish, and serve.
[141]. Fried Smelts. Clean about two dozen smelts, cut off the gills, wash them well in cold water, and dry them thoroughly. Put a pinch of salt and pepper in a little milk, into which dip your smelts, and then roll them in flour. Put in a frying-pan about a pound and a half of lard, in which, when very hot, fry your smelts a light brown. Also fry some parsley, which place around your fish, and serve with a sauce Tartare ([Art. 112]).
[142]. Farcied Smelts. Prepare your smelts as the foregoing. Split them in two, taking care to make the opening in the under part of the fish, and, beginning at the tail, make the incision the length of the fish, without disturbing the head. Then take some chicken farce ([Art. 11]), and add to it half a dozen very finely chopped mushrooms, and a very little chopped parsley. Lay this on one side of your smelts, and cover with the other half. Place them in a buttered pan, cover each one with a very little melted butter, sprinkle some bread-crumbs lightly over them, and send them to the oven for about fifteen minutes. Take half a pint of Spanish sauce ([Art. 80]), add a sherry-glass of white wine, boil for fifteen minutes, add a little chopped parsley to your sauce, which pour over your fish, and serve.
[143]. Oysters à la Poulette. Take fifty oysters, which blanch in boiling water, then drain them, preserving part of the liquid in which they were boiled. Take half a pint of béchamel sauce ([Art. 83] ), add a little of the liquid in which your oysters were boiled, a little salt and pepper, a little chopped parsley, and, when your sauce has ceased boiling, the yolks of three eggs well mixed in a little water. Serve your oysters hot in the sauce.
[144]. Farcied Oysters à l'Africaine. Take twenty very large oysters, which blanch and then drain. Also take some chicken farce ([Art. 11]), chopping three truffles very fine, and mix with your farce, with which cover your oysters on both sides, and dip in bread-crumbs. Then beat up four eggs, the yolks and whites together, with a little salt, pepper, and very little nutmeg added, and spread over your oysters, which dip again into bread-crumbs. Put the oysters in a buttered pan, and send to the oven for about fifteen minutes, a very little melted butter on each oyster. Take half a pint of Spanish sauce ([Art. 80]), add to it a glass of sherry, and, after boiling twenty minutes, chop up two truffles, put them in your sauce, and serve with your oysters.