No. 58. Fish a la Creme.—No. 2. Fish weighing four or five pounds, butter size of an egg, three tablespoons of flour, one quart of rich milk, three sprigs of parsley, half an onion, cayenne and salt. Boil the fish in salted water, flake and remove skin and bone. Boil milk, mix butter with flour, stir smooth in the milk, add parsley, chopped fine, chopped onion, cayenne and salt. Butter a dish, put first a layer of fish, then dressing, and continue until dish is full, with dressing on top. Cover with sifted bread crumbs; bake until brown; garnish with parsley.
No. 59. Fish a la Creme.—No. 3. Two pounds fish, one oz. flour, one cup bread crumbs, one quart milk, a little nutmeg, two onions, teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper, quarter pound butter. Boil fish and set aside. Put flour into stewpan, add milk gradually, mix smooth, cut onions fine, grate nutmeg, add the salt and pepper, heat and stir until rather thick, add butter, put a layer of this mixture on the serving dish. Flake the fish free from bones and put a layer of this next, then more of the mixture, fish, and so on, until fish is all used. Cover with bread crumbs and bake fifteen or twenty minutes.
No. 60. Fish a la Creme.—No. 4. (Remnants.) Remove skin and bones from cold boiled fish. Boil bones and skin in one pint of milk with a blade of mace and a small onion; strain and thicken with one tablespoon of flour rubbed into an equal quantity of butter; season and let it boil up once. Put as much fish as you have sauce into a deep dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake half an hour.
No. 61. Fish a l’ Italienne.—Take one quarter pound of macaroni and break into quite short pieces, put it into hot salted water and boil twenty minutes, drain off the water and stir into the macaroni one tablespoon of butter, three tablespoons grated cheese and one-third as much boiled fish as macaroni, season with salt and pepper, and turn all into a buttered baking dish; wet with milk, scatter bread crumbs on top, bake, covered, for fifteen minutes, then brown and serve. Raw fish may be used, in which case it should bake for thirty minutes before removing cover to brown.
No. 62. Fish a la Maitre d’ Hotel.—Take four pounds of fresh cod, or other white-meated fish, and put into boiling salted water and boil for twenty-five minutes, take it up and let it drain, then remove to a hot platter, garnish with parsley and serve with a Maitre d’ Hotel sauce ([No. 33],) dished separately in tureen.
No. 63. A la Maitre d’ Hotel Fish.—Remains of any boiled fish, heat over gentle fire until warmed through; then spread over it a sauce, made by rubbing one tablespoon of butter to a cream, seasoning with pepper, salt, one teaspoon chopped parsley and juice of one lemon. Set it in the oven a moment that butter may penetrate the fish.
No. 64. Fish au Court Bouillon.[1]—This is an improved method of cooking fish in water—by flavoring it with vegetables, spices and acids. To four quarts of water put one quart of good cider vinegar, or a pint of vinegar and the juice of two lemons, and an oz. of salt, or more if needed. Put into a saucepan one chopped onion, two shallots, two stalks of celery, three bay leaves, one sliced carrot and six cloves, with one quart of the water, and simmer all for one hour; strain, and put the sauce in with remainder of prepared water. Rub the fish well with salt, pepper and the juice of a lemon. Let the water boil up once, and skim it before putting in the fish. Boil until flesh separates from the bones. A sauce of drawn butter is the proper accompaniment for fish cooked in this way.
No. 65. Fish au Fromage.—One cup cold boiled macaroni cut into short bits, one cup cold boiled white-meated fish, mixed. Put in buttered dish in alternate layers, with macaroni at the top, season each layer with pepper and salt, moisten with drawn butter, or milk, if more convenient, sprinkle with a few bread crumbs, and over all two tablespoons of grated cheese, bake until brown.
No. 66. Fish au Gratin (baked.)—For this dish use either fillets of fresh fish, or remnants of cooked fish; putting the fish and a bechamel sauce ([No. 31]) in alternate layers into a deep baking dish and sprinkling crumbs over the top, moistening them with a little melted butter, send to the oven until colored a nice brown.
No. 67. Au Gratin.—Another way is to take three pounds of fillets of fish, season with salt and pepper and lay on a serving dish, sprinkling thickly with sifted cracker crumbs and a little grated Parmesan, or other dry cheese, putting a few bits of butter on top; brown in quick oven and serve at once. A delicate, savory and inexpensive dish.