The freshest full-roed herrings must be taken for this purpose. Scale twenty of the shortest and fattest you can get in the middle of the season, take off the heads, tails, fins, and open them at the bellies, clean all out, scrape the backbone, and washing the fish in salt and water, wipe them dry and let them lie until next day, after rubbing a dessert-spoonful of good moist sugar into the inside of each fish. Lay them upon their backs in any vessel not too deep, and cover the fish over with the following mixture—the roes should be nicely washed, dried, and laid by the side of the fish:
| Coarse sugar | 1 | lb. |
| Bay salt, in fine powder | ¾ | lb. |
| Black pepper | 1 | oz. |
| Eschalots, minced | 1 | oz. |
| Nutmegs, grated | 1 | oz. |
putting half the fish in one layer then a layer of the mixture, and then a layer of fish above that, and the spices covering all; so let them lie covered up with a cloth three days. Then wipe the fish dry, place the roes inside, cut them across in two parts, tie up in rolls with calico, and lay them with plenty of bay leaves and four laurel leaves in a deep dish and bake them, just covered over with good sound porter; then while warm pour off the liquor, and set the fish on a sieve to go cold, and next day put each one into a white earthenware jar and cover with olive oil with the same precautions as before. In two months they will be mellow and rich and greatly liked. The porter in which they were baked, being boiled twenty minutes with a dozen of shalots and cayenne, will be a very good cold sauce for chops, steaks, fish, &c.
MARINATED SPRATS.
These shall be superior to what were called “sardines in oil,” some thirty years ago, and sold in London at 4s. 6d. at first in small tin boxes, and afterwards at 2s. 6d., each tin containing about sixteen sprats—for sprats they certainly were. Take a peck of fresh sprats and pick out for your present use as many of the largest and most sound as will suit your purpose. Pull off the heads, cut off the fins and tails, and draw out the little guts, wash them quickly through salt and water, and dry them between cloths. Have ready the following:
| Mace, in finest powder | 1 | oz. |
| Cloves, in finest powder | 2 | oz. |
| Nutmeg, in finest powder | 1 | oz. |
| Saltpetre, in finest powder | 3 | oz. |
| Table salt, in finest powder | 1 | lb. |
| Bay leaf, in finest powder | 3 | oz. |
with which rub each fish on the inside first, and then throughout the bulk; put them into small pots of white earthenware, closely packed; tie bladder over them, merely to keep out the water, and place them in a stewpan, adding water to reach half way up the sides of the jars, cover the pan and set it on a slow fire to simmer until the fish are cooked; then take them up, remove the covers, and set them aside till the next day, when, pouring off any oil or fat that may have been given out in cooking, fill up with olive oil and tie bladders safely over.
POTTED SMELTS.
For this purpose the smaller fish will do very well. Cut them open at the belly, clean out and wash in salt and water, having first cut off the tails and fins; now season them inside with
| Mace, in powder | ½ | oz. |
| Nutmeg, in powder | 1 | oz. |
| Table salt | 3 | oz. |
| Cayenne pepper | ½ | oz. |
| Bay leaf | ¾ | oz. |