Wash and wipe dry, and rub with pepper and salt. Some add a soupçon of
cayenne and powdered mace. Lay the fish upon a grating set over your
baking-pan, and roast or bake, basting it freely with butter, and,
toward the last, with its own drippings only. Should it brown too fast,
cover the top with a sheet of white paper until the whole is cooked.
When it is done, transfer to a hot dish and cover closely, and add
to the gravy a little hot water thickened with arrow-root, rice, or
wheat flour,—wet, of course, first with cold water,—a great spoonful
of strained tomato sauce, and the juice of a lemon. Boil up and serve
in a sauce boat, or you can serve with cream sauce, made as for boiled
salmon. Garnish handsomely with alternate sprigs of parsley and the
bleached tops of celery, with ruby bits of firm currant jelly here
and there. This is a fine dish for a dinner-party. A glass of Sherry
improves the first-named sauce.