The recipes we are now giving are suitable for dinner, supper, or breakfast dishes, and will be found especially useful for the latter meal, as there is nothing more desirable for breakfast than fish. We are constantly told that it is not possible to have fresh fish for breakfast, because it cannot be kept all night in the home larder. But we must insist that there is no greater difficulty in keeping fish than meat. Indeed, there is perhaps less difficulty, because fish can be left lying in vinegar, if necessary, whereas in the case of meat it cannot always be done.
We will suppose that it is necessary to use strict economy. It is as well to proceed on that supposition, because people can always be lavish in their expenditure, whereas it is not so easy to provide for the household at once well and economically. In many neighbourhoods fish is sold much cheaper late in the day than in the morning, and in this case the housekeeper who can buy overnight for the use of the next day has a great advantage. Suppose you get the tail of a cod weighing three pounds, as you frequently may, at a very small price in the evening, and use a part of it stuffed and baked for supper, you can have a dish of cutlets of the remainder for breakfast which will be very acceptable. We do not mean a dish of the cold remains, but of a portion of the fish kept uncooked, as it easily may be, as we have before said, by dipping it in vinegar. Or, you get mackerel. Nothing is better than this fish treated according to the recipe we give. Even so delicate a fish as whiting may, by a little management with vinegar, be kept perfectly well from one day to the other. Skinned whiting has very little flavour, and although when skilfully cooked in the usual way it is useful by way of change, the nourishment is much impaired by the removal of the skin. The same remark applies to soles. By frying fish unskinned you get a dish of a different character to that of skinned fish, and one of which the appetite does not so soon tire.
FRIED SOLE.
Soles weighing from three-quarters of a pound to a pound are the most suitable size for frying whole. If it is desired to have the fish juicy and with their full flavour, do not have them skinned. The black side of the soles will not of course look so well, or be so crisp, as the white side, but this is of little consequence compared to the nourishment sacrificed in removing the skin. Have the soles scraped, wipe them, put a tablespoonful of vinegar in a dish, pass the fish through it, and let them lie an hour or more, if necessary all night, as the flavour is thus improved. Run a knife along the backbone, which prevents it looking red when cut. When ready to crumb the fish, lay them in a cloth and thoroughly dry them. Beat up the yolk of an egg with a very little of the white, which will be sufficient to egg a pair of soles; pass the fish through the egg on both sides, hold it up to drain; have ready on a plate a quarter of a pound of very fine dry crumbs, mixed with two ounces of flour, a teaspoonful of salt, and half a teaspoonful of pepper. Draw the fish over the crumbs, first on one side, then on the other, and lay it gently on a dish, black side downwards, whilst you prepare another. Some people succeed better in crumbing fish by sifting the crumbs on to it through a very fine strainer after it is egged. When the fish are ready put them, black side downwards, into the frying-pan with plenty of fat, hot enough to brown a piece of bread instantaneously, move the pan about gently, and when the soles have been fried four minutes, put a strong cooking-fork into them near the head, turn the white side downwards, and fry three minutes longer. Seven minutes will be sufficient to fry a sole weighing three-quarters of a pound, and a pair of this weight is sufficient for a party of six persons. When the sole is done put the fork into the fish close to the head, hold it up and let all the fat drain away, lay it on a sheet of cap paper, and cover over with another sheet. Being thus quite freed from grease, of a rich golden brown, crisp, and with an even surface, lay the fish on the dish for serving, which should have on it either a fish-paper or a napkin neatly folded. A well-fried sole is best eaten without any sauce, but in deference to the national usage, butter sauce, or melted butter, may be served with it.
FILLETED SOLES.
It is better for the cook to fillet the soles, for there is often much waste when it is done by the fishmonger. Having skinned the fish, with a sharp knife make an incision down the spine-bone from the head to the tail, and then along the fins; press the knife between the flesh and the bone, bearing rather hard against the latter, and the fillets will then be readily removed. These can now be dressed in a variety of ways; perhaps the most delicate for breakfast is the following:
FILLETS OF SOLE SAUTÉS.
Having dried the fillets, divide them into neat pieces two or three inches long; dip them in the beaten yolk of egg, and then in seasoned bread-crumbs. Make a little butter hot in the frying-pan, put in the fillets and cook them slowly until brown on one side, then turn and finish on the other.