Fish Sauce.
Put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two ditto of flour into a hot frying pan over the fire and mix them together with a spoon into a smooth paste. Pour over very gradually about a pint of the water in which the fish was boiled, stirring it well in. Boil up once and season with pepper and salt. If an acid taste is desired, add a few drops of vinegar.
Boiled Fish Roe.
Wash and wipe the roes with a soft cloth. Wrap in a cloth and boil the same as fish. Or, they may be tied inside the fish with a string and boiled with it.
Fried Fish Roe.
Prepare as above, dredge in meal or flour, and fry exactly as fish.
Soft Crabs.
Have enough boiling hot grease in a pan over a hot fire to cover the crabs. Throw them in as soon as possible after they are taken, with a little salt. Let them brown and turn them once. When done cut off the gills or "dead men's fingers," and serve on toast.
Hard Shell Crabs.
These are best steamed. Boil two cups of water in your largest pail. Put in two or three large handfuls of grass and then the crabs, as soon as possible after they are caught. Over them put more grass, and, covering the pail, let them steam thoroughly over the fire for twenty minutes. When done, eat all except the shell, the gills and the stomach, which last is in an easily distinguished sack. Be sure to have sufficient water in the pail to keep up the steam for the requisite time.