Just simmered from 5 to 10 minutes.
BAKED WHITINGS À LA FRANÇAISE.
Proceed with these exactly as with the soles au plat of this chapter; or, pour a little clarified butter into a deep dish, and strew it rather thickly with finely-minced mushrooms mixed with a teaspoonful of parsley, and (when the flavour is liked, and considered appropriate) with an eschalot or two, or the white part of a few green onions, also chopped very small. On these place the fish after they have been scaled, emptied, thoroughly washed, and wiped dry: season them well with salt and white pepper, or cayenne; sprinkle more of the herbs upon them; pour gently from one to two glasses of light white wine into the dish, cover the whitings with a thick layer of fine crumbs of bread, sprinkle these plentifully with clarified butter, and bake the fish from fifteen to twenty minutes. Send a cut lemon only to table with them. When the wine is not liked, a few spoonsful of pale veal gravy can be used instead; or a larger quantity of clarified butter, with a tablespoonful of water, a teaspoonful of lemon-pickle and of mushroom catsup, and a few drops of soy.
15 to 20 minutes.
TO BOIL MACKEREL.
[In full season in May, June, and July; may be had also in early spring.]
Mackerel.
Open the fish sufficiently to admit of the insides being perfectly cleansed, but not more than is necessary for this purpose; empty them with care, lay the roes apart, and wash both them and the mackerel delicately clean. It is customary now to lay these, and the greater number of other fish as well, into cold water when they are to be boiled; formerly all were plunged at once into fast-boiling water. For such as are small and delicate, it should be hot; they should be brought gently to boil, and simmered until they are done; the scum should be cleared off as it rises, and the usual proportion of salt stirred into the water before the mackerel are put in. The roes are commonly replaced in the fish; but as they sometimes require more boiling than the mackerel themselves, it is better, when they are very large, to lay them upon the fish-plate by their sides. From fifteen to twenty minutes will generally be sufficient to boil a full-sized mackerel some will be done in less time; but they must be watched and lifted out as soon as the tails split, and the eyes are starting.
Dish them on a napkin, and send fennel or gooseberry sauce to table with them, and plain melted butter also.