Prepare the fish precisely as for boiling whole. Cut in pieces when it
has been duly washed and soaked, and boil twenty minutes. Turn off the
water, and cover with fresh from the boiling tea-kettle. Boil twenty
minutes more, drain the fish very dry, and spread upon a dish to cool.
When perfectly cold, pick to pieces with a fork, removing every vestige
of skin and bone, and shredding very fine. When this is done, add an
equal bulk of mashed potato; work into a stiff batter by adding a lump
of butter and sweet milk, and if you want to have them very nice, a
beaten egg. Flour your hands and make the mixture into balls or cakes.
Drop them into boiling lard or good dripping, and fry to a light brown.
Plainer fish-cakes may be made of the cod and potatoes alone, moulded
round like biscuit. In any shape the dish is popular.