Clean and skin two pounds of eels; cut them into pieces two inches in length, put them in a pie dish thus: a layer of fish, then sliced onions, a few cloves, and sliced tomatoes, some sliced hard-boiled eggs, and so on till the dish is full. Mix some salt and Nepaul pepper to taste, in a little warm water, say a small tea-cup; pour it over the fish. Cover with a nice crust either light or short, and bake a nice brown. Serve with a nice frill round the dish.
This is a very substantial and delicious dish. The short crust is more digestible and satisfying than the light, but this is a matter of individual taste.
2. Eel Stew.
Clean and skin two pounds of eels; cut them into two-inch pieces. Chop one onion and two beads of garlic very small, fry in three ounces of butter with one tablespoon of flour till it is a nice brown; add half a pint of water and let it thicken; strain, then add the eels to the sauce. One tablespoon of tarragon vinegar, one tablespoon of cloves, one tablespoon of chervil, Nepaul pepper and salt to taste, the grated rind of half a lemon, and a little grated nutmeg. A few turned olives and button mushrooms considerably improve it, but where expense is an object these may be left out.
3. Salt Fish and Egg Pie.
Get a good dry salt fish about three pounds. Soak it all night in water, then put it in the oven till soft enough to handle, remove all skin and bone, and make into nice large flakes; put a layer of this in a pie dish, then a layer of sliced onions, a few cloves, a sprinkling of lemon thyme, some sliced hard-boiled eggs, and so on till the dish is full. Now mix half a cup of water with half a cup of good thick tomato conserve, add Nepaul pepper to it to taste; pour it over the pie, and cover with either a light or a short crust, and bake a nice brown.
4. Salt Fish and Potato Pie.
Treat the fish as in previous recipe. Peel and boil two pounds of potatoes, mash them thoroughly, and mix them with the fish. Three hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, one tablespoon of chopped onion, three ounces of butter, and a teaspoon of herbs as for veal stuffing. Mix all thoroughly together, then put it in a well-greased pie dish, smooth it down, and score it with a fork, put a few dabs of butter over it here and there, and bake a nice brown.