“Thank you for the hint. What is this? Soused mackerel?” She had turned to the end of the note-book as she spoke. “I remember eating them at your house, and how good they were; that recipe also is going down in my book.”
Soused mackerel.—Clean, but do not split, four or six fresh mackerel; boil them in water just to cover, in which are one clove, three allspice, one tea-spoonful of salt and a quarter one of pepper to each fish. Take the fish out as soon as done, and before they break lay them in a deep dish. Boil the water in which they were cooked down to half; put to it an equal quantity of vinegar (unless the latter is very strong, when one-third will do), and pour it over the fish.
Soused mackerel another way—“and that is the way I like best,” said Mrs. Welles, and Molly read: Put three or four mackerel in an earthen dish, sprinkle over each mackerel a small tea-spoonful of salt, a sixth of pepper, and allow to each two allspice and half a blade of mace and half a bay leaf; mix vinegar and water in equal proportion, and pour enough over to cover the fish; put them in a very slow oven for three or four hours. By that time the liquor will have diminished until there is only enough to serve with the fish. These fish will keep for several weeks in cold weather. If the vinegar is very strong, use less in proportion.
After luncheon, Mrs. Welles went to look at her muffins. They were hardly light, but the crumpets were so nearly ready that she put on the griddle.
“You happen to have a soap-stone griddle! that is the very thing needed for muffins, though one can manage to bake on an iron one.”
“Yes, I am promising myself inodorous buckwheat cakes this winter with that.”
It took the griddle half an hour to get thoroughly hot.
“Of course you have no crumpet-rings?”
“No; but if these are a success I shall get a few made; meanwhile, won’t muffin rings do? They are the large, old-fashioned sort.”
“We must make them do; but I can’t bear anything not to look just right. I never fancy they eat well if they do not.” Molly handed out a bundle of large old rings which Mrs. Welles greased and laid on the griddle; then, when they were hot, she poured into each batter to the depth of a quarter of an inch, drawing the griddle a little back as she did so. She did not attempt to turn them until the top was full of holes and the batter had dried; then they were turned for about three minutes; except that they were more slowly cooked, the baking was the same as for what are usually called raised muffins, and they appeared the same, but not quite so thick. They should not be more than half an inch thick when cooked. When they were done the muffins were ready to bake; the paste was like honeycomb.