Boiled White Fish.—Lay the fish open; put it in a dripping pan with the back down; nearly cover with water; to one fish put two tablespoons salt, cover tightly and simmer (not boil) one-half hour; dress with gravy, butter and pepper; garnish with sliced eggs.
For sauce use a piece of butter the size of an egg, one tablespoon of flour, one half pint boiling water; boil a few minutes, and add three hard boiled eggs, sliced.
Fresh Broiled White Fish.—Wash and drain the fish: sprinkle with pepper and lay with the inside down upon the gridiron, and broil over fresh bright coals. When a nice brown, turn for a moment on the other side, then take up and spread with butter. This is a very nice way of broiling all kinds of fish, fresh or salted. A little smoke under the fish adds to its flavor. This may be made by putting two or three cobs under the gridiron.
To Boil Codfish.—If boiled fresh, it is watery; but it is excellent if salted, and hung for a day, to give it firmness. Wash and clean the fish well, and rub salt inside of it; tie it up, and put it on the fire in cold water; throw a handful of salt into the fish-kettle. Boil a small fish 15 minutes; a large one 30 minutes. Serve it without the smallest speck and scum; drain. Garnish it with lemon, horseradish, the milt, roe, and liver. Oyster or shrimp sauce may be used.
Chowder.—Five pounds of codfish cut in squares; fry plenty of salt pork cut in thin slices; put a layer of pork in your kettle, then one of fish; one of potatoes in thick slices, and one of onions in slices; plenty of pepper and repeat as long as your materials last, and finish with a layer of Boston crackers or crusts of bread. Water sufficient to cook with, or milk if you prefer. Cook one-half hour and turn over on your platter, disturbing as little as possible. Clams and eels the same way.
Clam Fritters.—Twelve clams chopped or not, one pint milk, three eggs, add liquor from clams; salt and pepper, and flour enough for thin batter. Fry in hot lard.
Clam Stew.—Lay the clams on a gridiron over hot coals, taking them out of the shell as soon as open, saving the juice; add a little hot water, pepper, a very little salt and butter rolled in flour sufficient for seasoning; cook for five minutes and pour over toast.
Eels, to Stew.—Of the above fish, that of the "silver" kind is preferable to its congener, and, therefore, ought to be procured for all cuisine purposes. Take from three to four pounds of these eels, and let the same be thoroughly cleansed, inside and out, rescinding the heads and tails from the bodies. Cut them into pieces three inches in length each, and lay them down in a stew pan, covering them with a sufficiency of sweet mutton gravy to keep them seething over a slow fire, when introduced into the pan, for twenty minutes. Add to the liquor, before you place your eels into it, a quarter of an ounce of whole black pepper, quarter of an ounce of allspice, with one or two pieces of white ginger. Thicken with a light admixture of flour and butter, stirring it carefully round, adding thereto, at the same time, one gill of good port wine, and half a gill of sweet ketchup. Lemon-peel and salt may be added in accordance with your taste.
How to Keep Fish Sound.—To prevent meat, fish, etc., going bad, put a few pieces of charcoal into the sauce-pan wherein the fish or flesh is to be boiled.
How to Render Boiled Fish Firm.—Add a little saltpetre to the salt in the water in which the fish is to be boiled; a quarter of an ounce to one gallon.