Chop fine an onion, half a carrot, and a stalk of celery. Fry in butter, dredge with flour, and cook thoroughly. Add enough stock to make the required quantity of sauce, and cook until thick, stirring constantly, Season with mace, thyme, a bay-leaf, minced parsley, and curry powder. Strain through a sieve and pour over eels stewed in wine and seasoned with vegetables according to directions previously given. Serve with a border of boiled rice sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese.
EELS À LA NORMANDY
Fry in butter a pound and a half of prepared eels. Add a wineglassful of white wine or cider, a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup, and salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg to season. Simmer for ten minutes, add one cupful of white stock, half a dozen mushrooms, a dozen oysters, and half a dozen shrimps. When cooked take from the fire, add the yolks of two eggs well beaten, and serve at once.
STUFFED EELS À L'ITALIENNE
Skin the eel but keep the head on. Remove the back-bone and stuff with seasoned crumbs, mixed with minced parsley and mushrooms. Skewer in the form of a circle; put into a saucepan with two ounces of butter, a small bunch of parsley, a chopped onion, two cupfuls of white wine, and salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg to season. Bake for an hour, basting as required. Drain, take out the parsley, and add to the sauce two cupfuls of brown stock, and one cupful of chopped mushrooms. Boil for five minutes and thicken with browned flour cooked in butter. Season with minced parsley and lemon-juice, pour the sauce around the eel, and serve.
EELS À LA LONDON
Fry four chopped onions in butter, dredge with flour, and cook thoroughly. Add two cupfuls of stock, half a cupful of Port wine, two bay-leaves, and salt and pepper to season. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add one large cleaned eel, cut into two-inch lengths, cover, and cook for fifteen minutes. Serve on toast.
EELS À LA REINE
Prepare and cut up the eels. Fry in butter with half a can of mushrooms, and dredge with flour. Add one cupful of stock and half a cupful of white wine. Bring to the boil, season with salt, pepper, and a chopped onion, and cook until the eel is tender. Skim, take from the fire, and add the juice of half a lemon, beaten smooth with the yolks of two eggs.