Eels en matelotte, or sailor fashion, are appreciated by many. Cut them into three-inch pieces, and salt them. Fry an onion brown in a little dripping; add half a pint of broth to the brown onion, part of a bay leaf, six broken peppercorns, four whole cloves, and a gill of claret. Add the eels to this, and simmer until thoroughly cooked. Remove the eels, put them on a hot dish, add a teaspoonful of browned flour to the sauce, strain, and pour over the eels.
Pan Bass, Anchovy Butter.—During February, March, and the first part of April, there may be found in market a variety of bass which much resembles the Oswego bass. They come from the Carolinas and Virginia, and are excellent eating. Let them stand an hour in salt water, then drain and wipe dry, and fry them in tried-out salt-pork fat. Serve them with a butter made as follows: Mix together a teaspoonful of anchovy paste with a tablespoonful of sweet butter, and, if not objected to, add a few blades of chopped chives.
The chive has the flavor peculiar to the onion family, but in a mild form. It is cultivated by truck gardeners, and may be found on the New York vegetable stands as early as January. The retail price at the first of the season is ten cents a tuft; as it becomes more plentiful, it is offered at five cents.
Placed in the kitchen, it grows luxuriantly,—in fact, it grows faster than it can be used by a small family. This very useful herb should be in the kitchen window of every home where soups and salads are rightly appreciated.
The chive grows wild in nearly all of the Middle and Eastern States, and the first green spot seen in our parks is more than likely to be chives. Cows eat it, and their milk has a slight garlic flavor. The garlic flavor in milk is decidedly objectionable; yet the early Dutch settlers planted the chives in the pastures for the cows to eat, thereby imparting to the milk this peculiar flavor.
Fillet of Flounder, Tartar Sauce.—Cut the flesh from the bone lengthwise, and then cut each piece into strips an inch wide. Dip them in beaten egg. Roll them in cracker-crumbs, and fry in hot fat enough to cover them. This dish appears on our French bills-of-fare as filet de sole. Serve with sauce tartare.
Fried Tomcods.—These delicate, sweet-flavored pan-fish are called frost-fish by dealers, but the fishermen along the Hudson call them “Tommies.” Whatever name they are known by, they are delicious morsels when fresh caught. Clean them without removing the heads, dry them in a napkin, and salt their insides, dredge them with a little flour, and fry them crisp in hot smoking fat. Put the clean fish into a baking-tin. Over each fish place a thin slice of bacon, add salt and pepper, and bake them twenty minutes in a hot oven.
Broiled Salt Codfish.—Cut half of a small codfish into medium-sized square pieces; split them in two, and soak them over night in cold water. Drain, and dry them in a napkin, next morning. Rub a little butter over each piece, and broil them. Place them on a hot platter, and pour a little melted butter over them.
Drawn butter is sometimes served with this dish. It should be very smooth looking, and have a starchy appearance. Divide three ounces of butter into little balls. Dredge them with flour. Put one-fourth of them into a saucepan, and when they begin to melt, whisk to a smooth consistency. Now add one more of the floured balls, and whisk thoroughly until incorporated with the first. Repeat this process until all are used. When smooth and thick, stir in a teaspoonful of lemon-juice, and, if liked, a little chopped parsley.
Broiled Salt Mackerel.—“I like salt mackerel, but it does not agree with me,” is a remark often heard in nearly all classes of society. Many imagine they can eat cured fish with the same degree of recklessness and lack of regard for dietetic laws which they often show in eating more digestible food. They soon discover, however, that something is radically wrong; just where the blame rests, is a matter they settle to their own satisfaction by declaring that salt mackerel was not intended for civilized people, because they are unable to eat it without experiencing disagreeable after-effects.