Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/417

 and are only eatable by the ingredients that make them so, and the art of cookery; they should be first beat with a sledge hammer on an iron anvil, or on a very solid smooth oaken block; and when reduced almost to atoms, the skin and bones taken away, and the remainder of the fish steeped in milk and warm water until very soft; then strained out, and put into a soop-dish with new milk, powdered cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg; the chief part cinnamon, and paste round the edge of the dish, and put in a temperate oven to simmer for about an hour, and then served up in the place of pudding.

N. B. The Italians eat the skin boiled, either hot or cold, and most usually with oil and vinegar, preferring the skin to the body of the fish.

BUY them as fresh as possible, split them down the backs, open them flat: take out the guts, and wash the fish very clean from the blood, hang them up by the trails to drain well: do this in the cool of the evening, or in a very cool place; strew salt at the bottom of the pan, sprinkle the fish well with clean salt, lay them in the pan, belly to belly, and back to back; let them lie in the salt about twelve hours, wash the salt clean off in the pickle, hang them again up by the tails half an hour to drain; pepper the insides moderately, and lay them to dry on inclining stones facing the sun; never leaving them out when the sun is off, nor lay them out before the sun has dispersed the dews, and the stones you lay them on be dry and warm. A week's time of fine weather perfectly cures them; when cured, hang them up by the tails, belly to belly, in a very dry place, but not in sea-coal smoak, it will spoil their flavour.

EITHER fry them in boiling oil, and lay them to drain, or broil them before, or on a very clear fire: in the last case, baste them with oil and a feather; sauce will be very little wanting, as they will be very moist and mellow, if good in kind, otherwise you may use melted butter and crimped parsley.

CUT a calf's foot into four pieces, put it into a sauce-pan, with half a pint of soft water, and a middling potatoe; scrape