Two chafing-dishes will be requisite for preparing this delicious luncheon dish.
Have ready one pound of raw halibut chopped very fine; beat the yolk of an egg, add to it one teaspoonful and a fourth of salt, one-fourth a teaspoonful of white pepper and a few grains of cayenne or paprica. Blend a teaspoonful of cornstarch with a little milk; then add milk to make two-thirds a cup, stir gradually into the egg and seasonings, and then very slowly into the fish. Lastly, fold into the mixture one-third a cup of thick cream, beaten until stiff. Butter dariole moulds thoroughly, arrange a circle of cooked peas around the bottom of each mould, and fill with the fish preparation two-thirds full. Set into the blazer, surrounded with boiling water; after the water is again boiling, turn down the flame so that the water will barely quiver, and let cook about twenty minutes. Prepare, in the mean time, in the second blazer, creamed peas. Turn the fish from the moulds and surround with the
Creamed Peas.
Have ready one can of peas, drained, rinsed, covered with boiling water and drained again. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter; add one tablespoonful of flour with one teaspoonful of sugar and half a teaspoonful of salt; add the peas and one-third a cup of milk, stir, and let cook until the liquid begins to bubble.
Purée of Fish.
Scald one quart of milk, with half an onion and a stalk of celery; strain into a pitcher and keep hot if convenient. Add to the remnants of cold boiled white fish enough canned salmon to make two cups; chop fine and rub through a purée sieve. Cook together in the blazer two tablespoonfuls of butter, three of flour, one teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper. Add the milk gradually, and, when all is added and the contents of the blazer are boiling, put a few spoonfuls of the sauce into the fish and beat until smooth; add more sauce, and, when well diluted and smooth, turn the whole into the blazer. Stir, and let cook until very hot; then serve with crackers, split, buttered, and browned in the oven. These proportions give three pints of soup. Vegetable purées may be prepared in the same way.
Salt Codfish with Tomato Sauce.
Sauté one clove of garlic and half an onion, grated or chopped fine, in three tablespoonfuls of butter; add two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of paprica and one pimento, chopped fine; also, add one cup of tomato pulp, and, when the sauce boils, half a pound of "hatcheled" codfish, or any salt codfish picked into small pieces and freshened in one quart of cold water. Serve, while hot, with brownbread sandwiches, and pickles or pim-olas.
Salt Codfish in Cream Sauce.
Pick enough salt codfish into bits to make one cup. Let stand in cold water about half an hour. Make one cup of cream sauce, using one tablespoonful and a half of flour, two tablespoonfuls of butter and one cup of cream; remove all the water from the fish by wringing in a cheese-cloth, add the fish to the sauce, and, when heated, stir in a lightly beaten egg. Serve upon rounds of toast, with olives, or plain lettuce, or tomato salad.