moderate oven for about half an hour, basting occasionally.
Serve with cut lemon, and garnish with parsley.
Note.--A small cod may be stuffed and cooked like a haddock.
Plaice.
This fish may be boiled, baked, or fried.
Fried Fillets of Plaice.
Fillet the plaice by cutting down the centre of the fish with a sharp
knife and removing the flesh from either side.
Egg and bread-crumb the fillets, and fry in hot fat (_see_ French
Frying).
Drain on kitchen paper, serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried
parsley.
Fried Fillets of Sole.
Prepare like the fillets of plaice, with the exception that the sole
should be skinned before it is filleted.
Fish Croquettes.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of cooked fish (haddock, cod, ling, or hake are the
best for the purpose).
1 oz. of butter.
2 or 3 eggs.
Pepper and salt.
Some white crumbs.
Parsley.
1 lb. of boiled potatoes.
_Method._--Rub the potatoes through a sieve.
Break the fish into flakes, removing the bones.
Mix the fish and potatoes together; blend them thoroughly with the
butter, pepper, salt, and a well-beaten egg.
Form the mixture into balls or cakes.
Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot fat (_see_ French Frying).
Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.
Fish Pudding.
Make a mixture of fish and potatoes as in preceding recipe. Put it on a
dish that will stand the heat of the oven, and mould it into the form of
a fish.
Bake for half an hour.
Halibut.
This fish may be cooked and served like cod or turbot.
Red Mullets à l'Italienne.
_Ingredients_--4 or 6 red mullets.
2 dessertspoonfuls of mushroom catsup.
A little butter.
Lemon juice.
Pepper and salt.
Some Italian sauce.
_Method._--Lay the mullets in a well-buttered baking-sheet; moisten them
with the catsup, and sprinkle with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.
Put some little bits of butter over them.
Bake in a moderate oven for a quarter of an hour or more until cooked.
Lay them on a hot dish.
Mix the liquor from the mullets with some Italian sauce (_see_ Sauces),
and pour over.
Garnish with truffle and coral.
Red Mullets à la Genoise.
_Ingredients_--Red mullets.
½ glass of port.
A few drops of lemon juice.
Pepper.
Some Genoise sauce.
A little butter.
_Method._--Lay the mullets on a well-greased baking-sheet.
Moisten them with the port wine and lemon juice, and put little bits of
butter about them.
Bake them in a moderate oven until cooked.
Lay them on a hot dish.
Mix the liquor from the mullets with the Genoise sauce, and pour over
them.
Red Mullet in Cases.
_Ingredients_--4 red mullets.
1 dozen button mushrooms.
1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley.
2 shalots.
Lemon-juice.
Pepper and salt.
Salad oil.
_Method._--Chop the shalots and mushrooms, and mix them with the
parsley.
Oil some pieces of foolscap paper.
Lay the mullets on them; sprinkle over them the parsley, mushroom,
shalot, lemon juice, pepper and salt.
Fold them in the cases, and cook on a well-greased baking-sheet, in a
moderate oven, for about twenty or thirty minutes.
Boiled Whiting.
Fasten the tail in the mouth of each whiting, and lay them on a fish
strainer.
Put them into boiling water, with salt in it, and cook them gently for
five minutes or more.
Dish on a folded napkin, and garnish with parsley, coral, and cut lemon.
Serve with them _maître d'hôtel_, _Béchamel_, Italian, Genoise, or any
other suitable sauce.
Fried Whiting.
_Ingredients_--Some whiting.
Egg.
Bread-crumbs.
Parsley.
Lemon juice.
_Method._--Skin the whiting, and fasten the tail in the mouth.
Dry them well with a cloth.
Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in a frying-basket, in hot fat
(_see_ French Frying).
Drain them on kitchen paper, and dish on a folded napkin.
Garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.
_Béchamel_, lobster, shrimp, Italian, Genoise, or any other suitable
sauce, may be served with them.
Whiting à l'Italienne.
_Ingredients_--Whiting.
Lemon-juice.
Pepper and salt.
A little butter.
Italian sauce.
_Method._--Skin and fillet the whiting.
Lay the fillets on a well-buttered baking-sheet.
Sprinkle with lemon-juice, pepper and salt, and cover them with buttered
paper.
Cook them in a moderate oven, from seven to ten minutes.
Dish in a circle, and pour Italian sauce over.
Garnish with truffle and coral.
Whiting à la Genoise.
Prepare the whiting as in preceding receipt, substituting Genoise for
Italian sauce.
Lobster Cutlets.
_Ingredients_--1 hen lobster.
1½ oz. of butter.
1 oz. of flour.
1 gill of cold water.
2 tablespoonfuls of cream.
A few drops of lemon juice.
Cayenne.
Pepper and salt.
Some spawn or coral.
Egg and bread-crumbs.
Parsley.
_Method._--Remove the flesh from the body of the lobster, and cut it up.
Pound the coral in a mortar, with half an ounce of butter, and rub it
through a hair sieve. (If spawn is used it need not be pounded.)
Melt 1 oz. of butter in a stewpan.
Mix in the flour; add the water; stir until it thickens.
Then add the coral, and butter, and cook well.
Next the cream, lemon juice, cayenne, pepper, salt, and lastly the
chopped lobster.
Spread the mixture on a plate to cool.
When cool, shape into cutlets.
Egg and bread-crumb, and fry in hot fat in a frying-basket.
Put a piece of the feeler in each, to represent a bone.
Garnish with fried parsley.
Lobster Cutlets in Aspic.
Shape some of the lobster-cutlet mixture into cutlets.
Roll in dried and powdered coral, and put a piece of feeler in each.
Pour a little aspic jelly into a clean Yorkshire-pudding tin, or
frying-pan.
When set, lay the cutlets on it, and pour in, gently, enough aspic to
cover them.
When firm, cut them out with a border of aspic to each, and serve on
chopped aspic.
Fried Sole.
_Ingredients_--A sole.
Egg.
Bread-crumbs.
Parsley.
_Method._--Remove the dark skin, and notch the other, here and there,
with a knife.
Dry the sole well in a floured cloth.
Brush over with egg, and cover with bread-crumbs.
Flatten them on with a broad-bladed knife, and fry the sole a golden
brown in hot fat (for heat of fat _see_ French Frying).
A fish-fryer, or a deep frying-pan, should be used for the purpose; and
there should be sufficient fat to cover the sole, so that it will not
require turning.
When cooked, drain on kitchen paper.
Dish on a folded napkin.
Garnish with fried parsley.
Sole à la Parisienne.
_Ingredients_--1 sole.
1 wineglass of sherry.
½ pint of good second stock.
A few drops of lemon juice.
1 teaspoonful of Harvey's sauce.
1 teaspoonful of anchovy sauce.
Pepper and salt to taste.
_Method._--Remove the dark skin, and notch the other with a knife.
Lay the sole in a baking-pan, and pour over it the stock and sherry.
Cover with a dish, and bake for twenty or thirty minutes in a moderate
oven.
Place it on a hot dish.
Boil the stock rapidly down to half the quantity.
Add to it the sauces, lemon juice, and seasoning, and pour it over the
sole.
Fillets of Sole à la Rouennaise.
_Ingredients_--2 or more soles.
Lemon juice.
Lobster-cutlet mixture.
Some white sauce.
Chopped truffle.
_Method._--Remove both skins from the soles, and fillet them.
Spread some of the lobster-cutlet mixture on the half of each fillet,
and fold over.
Place on a greased baking-sheet; sprinkle over lemon juice and salt, and
cover with buttered paper.
Bake in a moderate oven for about twelve minutes.
Dish in a circle, and pour over white sauce, mixed with chopped
truffle.
Fillets of Sole à la Maître d'Hôtel.
_Ingredients_--Fillets of sole.
Lemon juice and salt.
_Method._--Roll or fold the fillets, and cook like the Sole _à la
Rouennaise_.
Cover them with the same sauce as in the last recipe, using chopped
parsley instead of truffle.
Sole au gratin.
_Ingredients_--1 sole.
1 dessertspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 chopped shalot.
6 chopped button mushrooms.
Lemon juice.
Pepper and salt.
½ oz. of butter.
Brown bread-crumbs.
_Method._--Grease a dish that will stand the heat of the oven.
Sprinkle on it half of the parsley, shalot, and mushroom, with lemon
juice, pepper, and salt.
Lay the sole on the mixture, and sprinkle the remainder of the parsley,
&c., over it.
Cover with brown bread-crumbs, and put half an ounce of butter about it,
in small pieces.
Bake from ten to fifteen minutes, according to size, and serve-with
glaze poured round it.
Gurnets baked.
_Ingredients_--2 or more gurnets.
Some veal stuffing, omitting the suet.
A little stock.
½ wineglass of sherry.
1 or 2 dessertspoonfuls of mushroom catsup.
Some brown sauce.
Pepper and salt.
_Method._--Remove the head and fins of the gurnets, and stuff them with
veal stuffing, fastening it in with small skewers.
Lay them on a well-buttered baking-tin, and pour over them the stock,
sherry, and catsup.
Bake them in a moderate oven until cooked.
Then place them on a hot dish, mix the liquor from them with the sauce
and pour over.
Stewed Eels.
_Ingredients_--2 lb. of eels.
1 pint of stock.
1 wineglass of port.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
A few drops of lemon juice.
Pepper.
Salt.
Cayenne.
2 oz. of butter.
_Method._--Cut the eels in pieces about 2½ inches long.
Fry them brown in the butter.
Then put them in a stewpan with the stock.
Stew gently, until tender.
Then remove them from the stock, and put them in a hot dish.
Thicken the stock with the flour.
Add the wine, lemon juice, and seasoning.
Pour over the eels, and serve very hot.
PASTRY.
Few people are successful in making pastry. Yet, with a little practice,
there is no reason why any one should not make it with some degree of
perfection, if the following rules are carefully attended to.
Make the pastry in a cool place, not in a hot kitchen. The board,
rolling-pin, and hands should be as cold as possible. Handle it very
lightly. The colder pastry is kept during making, the lighter it will
be, because it will contain more air; cold air occupies a much less
space than warm. The colder the air, the greater, consequently, will be
its expansion when the pastry is put into a very hot oven. Roll the
paste lightly, and not more than necessary. Puff paste is a kind of fine
sandwich. There should be a certain number of layers of dough and layers
of butter. Take care, therefore, that the butter is not allowed to break
through the dough; and be _very careful to follow_ the directions given
for making this pastry. Its manufacture requires patience, because, if
it is not properly cooled between the turns, the friction of rolling
will warm the butter, and cause it to smear into the dough. For short
crust, rub the butter or fat lightly into the flour with the tips of the
fingers; and do not use more water than necessary in mixing it. This is
a common mistake; and too much water deprives the paste of its
shortness. Short paste is the best for children and persons of weak
digestion; the flour in it being more thoroughly incorporated with the
fat, gets better cooked. It is, therefore, capable of more perfect
mastication than puff or flaky crust, both of which are liable to be
swallowed in flakes.
However well pastry is made, success will not be attained unless the
oven is rightly heated. The very lightest crusts will often be totally
spoiled in the baking because this important point is not attended to.
If the oven is not very hot, the fat will melt and run out of the pastry
before the starch grains in the flour burst; consequently, they cannot
afterwards expand, however hot the oven may be made; and in this way the
paste will become heavy. Take great care, therefore, that the oven is
very hot when the paste is put into it.
Watch the paste carefully that it does not take too dark a colour. When
it is well thrown up and nearly cooked, it may be removed to a more
moderately heated part of the oven if it should appear to be browning
too quickly.
Ovens in which the heat comes from the bottom are decidedly the best for
either cakes or pastry; but no one should expect to bake well in an oven
they do not thoroughly understand. There is so much difference in ovens,
that the hottest part of one may be the coolest in another. To bake well
requires practice and experience, and no one should be discouraged by a
few failures.
Puff Paste.
_Ingredients_--Equal quantities of Vienna flour and butter.
A few drops of lemon juice.
Enough water to mix the flour into a nice lithe dough.
_Method._--Rub the flour through a wire sieve.
Make a well in the middle, and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice.
Mix very gradually with very cold water, taking care that the dough is
not too stiff.
Then knead and work well about until quite smooth.
Set it aside for a few minutes to get quite cold.
Squeeze the butter in a cloth to press out the water.
Roll out the dough, and place the butter, flattened to a third of its
size, in the middle.
Then fold the dough from either side over it, pressing the edges
together.
Turn it with its edges toward you, and roll out very gently (care must
be taken that the butter does not break through the dough).
Fold it again in three, and put it aside to cool for quite a quarter of
an hour. The colder it is kept the better.
Then turn its edges towards you, and roll it out again; fold evenly in
three, and roll and fold again in the same manner; each roll and fold is
called a turn.
Cool the paste for another quarter of an hour.
Then give it two more turns.
Let it cool again; and at the seventh roll it will probably be ready for
use.
It is, however, wise to bake a small piece of the paste before using the
whole quantity. If the maker has a very light hand it sometimes happens
that eight or even nine turns may be necessary to roll the butter
sufficiently into the flour.
Patty Cases.
Roll the puff paste, when ready, to rather more than a quarter of an
inch in thickness.
Take a fluted cutter about the size of a tumbler.
Dip it in very hot water, and cut the paste into rounds with it.
Mark the middle of these rounds with a cutter about three sizes smaller.
Roll out the remains of the paste to half the thickness of the patties.
Stamp out some rounds for covers with a fluted cutter two sizes smaller
than that used for the cases.
Put the cases and covers on a baking-tin, and bake in a quick oven for
ten or fifteen minutes.
When cooked, lift the lid and scrape out the soft inside carefully.
Good Short Crust.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of flour.
¾ lb. of butter.
Enough cold water to mix rather stiffly.
A pinch of salt.
_Method._--Rub the butter into the flour until like fine bread-crumbs.
Mix with cold water, using as little as possible (if too much is used
the crust will not be short).
Roll gently to make the paste bind.
If this paste is used for tarts, add one dessertspoonful of castor sugar
to the flour.
Plainer Short Crust.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of flour.
¼ lb. of butter.
¼ lb. of lard.
1 teaspoonful of baking powder.
Water enough to bind.
_Method._--Make according to directions given in preceding recipe.
Economical Short Crust.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of flour.
½ lb. of clarified dripping or lard.
1 teaspoonful of baking powder.
Enough water to mix.
To make this crust still plainer, a quarter of a pound only of clarified
dripping or lard may be taken, and three good teaspoonfuls of baking
powder.
_Method._--Make according to the directions for Short Crust.
Flaky Crust.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of flour.
½ lb. of butter or dripping.
A pinch of salt.
Enough cold water to mix the paste.
_Method._--Rub one half of the butter into the flour, as for short
crust.
Mix with the water, and roll it out very thinly.
Put the remainder in little pieces on the paste.
Fold in three, and then in three again.
Roll out to the size required.
Rough Puff Paste.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of flour.
½ lb. of butter, lard, or dripping.
Salt.
Cold water.
_Method._--Break the fat into the flour in pieces.
Add a pinch of salt.
Mix with a little cold water.
Turn on to a board.
Roll and fold four times.
Flaky Bread Crust.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of bread dough.
Some butter, lard, or dripping.
_Method._--Roll out the dough very thin, and spread with the fat.
Fold in two.
Spread again with fat.
Fold in two, and spread once more with fat.
Fold again, and set aside for one hour.
Then roll out and use.
Beef-steak Pie.
_Ingredients_--2 lb. of nice beef-steak.
½ lb. of bullock's kidney.
1 lb. of flaky or rough puff paste.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
½ pint of water.
Pepper and salt.
_Method._--Roll the paste to a quarter of an inch in thickness.
Invert the pie-dish, and cut the paste to the size and shape of the
under side of it.
Roll out the remainder, and cut a band one inch wide.
Wet the edge of the pie-dish, and place this round it.
Cut the beef into thin strips.
Dip them in flour, and season with pepper and salt.
Roll each of the strips round a tiny piece of fat.
Put them into the pie-dish alternately with pieces of kidney.
Raise them in the middle of the dish in a dome-like form, and pour in
the water.
Wet the edges of the paste lining of the dish, and lay the cover over.
Press the edges lightly together, and trim round with a knife.
Make a hole in the middle of the paste to let the gases from the meat
escape.
Brush the crust with beaten egg, and decorate with leaves cut from the
trimmings.
Bake for about two hours.
The pie should be put into a quick oven until the pastry is cooked; the
heat must then be moderated to cook the meat thoroughly without drying
up the pastry. If possible, finish cooking the meat on the top of the
oven.
Some people prefer stewing the meat before using it in the pie. If this
is done, it must be allowed to get cold before the pie is made.
It is an improvement to the pie to put layers of oysters, bearded,
alternately with the rolls of beef.
Rabbit Pie.
_Ingredients_--1 rabbit.
¼ lb. of salt pork.
1 lb. of rough puff or flaky paste.
½ pint of water.
2 hard-boiled eggs.
Pepper and salt.
_Method._--Prepare the paste as for beef-steak pie, lining the dish in
the same manner.
Cut the rabbit into neat joints.
Season them with pepper and salt.
Put them in the pie-dish alternately with the pork.
Pour in the water, and cover with the paste.
Brush over with beaten egg, and decorate with paste leaves.
Make a hole in the middle of the crust for the gases to escape.
Bake for about an hour, attending to directions given for baking
beef-steak pie.
Mince Pies.
_Ingredients_--Puff and other pastry.
Mincemeat.
Castor sugar.
White of 1 egg.
THE MINCEMEAT.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of suet.
1 lb. of apples.
1 lb. of sugar.
1 lb. of currants.
1 lb. of raisins.
1 lb. of candied peel.
The grated rind of 3 lemons.
¼ lb. of ratafias soaked in brandy.
_Method._--Chop the suet.
Wash and dry the currants.
Stone and cut the raisins in halves.
Peel, core, and mince the apples.
Chop the candied peel.
Mix all the ingredients well together.
Put them into a stone jar; cover closely and keep for a month.
TO MAKE THE PIES.
Roll the paste out, and stamp it into rather large rounds with a fluted
cutter dipped in hot water.
Lay half the rounds on patty pans.
Wet the edges of the pastry, and put some mincemeat into the middle of
each round.
Cover with the remaining rounds, pressing the edges lightly together.
To glaze, brush them with a little white of egg, and dust with castor
sugar.
Bake in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes.
Mushroom Pie.
_Ingredients_--Puff, flaky, or short crust.
Mushrooms.
Boiled potatoes.
Butter.
Pepper and salt.
_Method._--Roll out the paste, and prepare a pie-dish as for beef-steak
pie.
Mash the potatoes with butter, pepper, and salt.
Peel the mushrooms, and cut off the ends of the stalks.
Put the potatoes and mushrooms in alternate layers in the pie-dish.
Cover with the paste, and finish off and decorate like a beef-steak pie.
Bake in a quick oven for about three quarters of an hour.
Pigeon Pie.
_Ingredients_--4 pigeons.
1 lb. of rump-steak.
Yolks of 6 hard-boiled eggs.
Pepper and salt.
Some puff or other paste made with 1 lb. of flour.
_Method._--Prepare the pie-dish, and roll out the paste as for
beef-steak pie.
Draw the pigeons, and cut them in halves.
Cut the steak into thin strips, the way of the grain.
Season the steak and pigeons nicely, and put them into the pie-dish with
the hard-boiled yolks.
Pour in the water.
Cover with the paste, and finish like a beef-steak pie.
Wash and clean the legs of two of the pigeons, and stick them in the
hole in the top of the pie.
Bake for about an hour and a half.
Veal-and-Ham Pie.
_Ingredients_--1 lb. of veal cutlet.
½ lb. of ham.
4 hard-boiled eggs.
1 dessertspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 lemon.
Pepper and salt.
Some puff, flaky, or other pastry, made with 1 lb. of flour.
_Method._--Roll out the paste, and prepare the dish as for beef-steak
pie.
Cut the veal and ham into neat pieces.
Season them well, and sprinkle them with the parsley and lemon juice.
Put them into the pie-dish with the eggs cut in halves.
Pour in the water.
Cover with paste, and decorate like a beef-steak pie.
Bake for about two hours.
Cornish Pasties.
_Ingredients_--Some plain short crust.
Equal quantities of beef-steak or beef-skirt and potatoes.
1 onion, finely chopped.
Pepper and salt.
_Method._--Cut the meat and potatoes into small dice, and mix them with
the onion, pepper, and salt.
Roll out the pastry.
Stamp it into rather large rounds with the lid of a small saucepan.
Wet round the edges of the paste, and place a small heap of meat and
potatoes in the middle of each round.
Double the paste, bringing the edges to the top.
Goffer round them with the fingers to form a frill.
Place the pasties on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a quick oven
from half an hour to an hour.
Sausage Rolls.
_Ingredients_--Some puff or flaky crust.
Sausages.
1 egg.
_Method._--Parboil the sausages.
Skin them, cut them in halves, and let them cool.
Roll out the paste; cut it into squares.
Brush the edges with beaten egg.
Lay a half sausage on each piece of paste, and roll the paste round it,
pressing the edges together.
Brush the rolls with beaten egg.
Lay them on a greased baking-sheet.
Bake in a quick oven for fifteen or twenty minutes.
Apple Tart.
_Ingredients_--2 lb. of apples.
3 oz. of moist sugar.
Some pastry.
5 cloves or the grated rind of a small lemon.
¼ pint of water.
_Method._--Make some pastry according to directions given for short
crust (the quantity made from ¾ lb. of flour will be sufficient).
Roll out the paste in an oval shape to a quarter of an inch in
thickness.
Invert a pint pie-dish, lay the paste over it, and cut it the size and
shape of the under side of the dish.
Roll out the remaining pieces, and cut in strips about one inch wide.
Wet the edges of the pie-dish, and lay them evenly round it.
Peel, core, and quarter the apples.
Put them into the pie-dish, mixing them with the sugar.
Pile them up well in the middle of the dish, pressing them to an oval
shape with the hands.
Pour in the water, and sprinkle over the lemon rind or cloves.
Wet the edges of the pastry, lining the dish, and put over the piece
reserved for the cover.
Press the edges lightly together, and trim with a knife.
Make a small hole with a skewer on either side of the cover to let the
steam escape.
To glaze, brush over with the white of an egg, and dust with castor
sugar.
Bake from half to three-quarters of an hour. The oven should be very
quick at first, and moderate afterwards.
Any Fruit Tart may be made by this recipe. Sugar must be added
according to the acidity of the fruit used.
Genoise Pastry.
_Ingredients_--6 oz. of flour.
6 oz. of butter.
8 oz. of castor sugar.
7 eggs.
_Method._--Melt the butter in a stewpan, and brush over a _sauté_ pan or
shallow cake tin with it.
Line the pan with paper, and brush that also with the melted butter.
Break the eggs into a basin.
Add to them the sugar, and beat with a whisk for about twenty minutes
until they rise.
The basin containing them may be placed on a saucepan of hot water; but
care must be taken that the heat is not too great, as that would cook
the eggs.
When the eggs are sufficiently beaten, _stir_ in the flour and butter
_very lightly_.
If _beaten_ in, the pastry will not be light.
Pour the mixture into the pan, and bake for about an hour.
Genoise Sandwiches.
_Ingredients_--Genoise pastry.
Jam.
_Method._--Cut the Genoise pastry into slices.
Spread them with jam.
Lay the slices one on the other, and cut in triangular shapes.
Genoise iced-cakes.
_Ingredients_--Genoise pastry.
Jam.
Grated cocoa-nut.
Iceing.
_Method._--Stamp out small cakes of Genoise pastry with a round cutter.
Spread the sides thinly with jam.
Roll the cakes in the cocoa-nut.