Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/407

Rh gently for 10 minutes. Remove the fish carefully to a hot dish, add the lemon-juice to the sauce, season if necessary, and strain over the fish.

Time.—About ½ an hour. Average Cost, 6d. to 1s. Sufficient for 4 persons. Seasonable from April to July.

Ingredients.—2 or 3 mackerel, ½ a pint of vinegar, water, 12 peppercorns, 2 bay-leaves, allspice, salt and pepper.

Method.—Clean and wash the fish and take out the roes. Place the mackerel in an earthenware baking-dish with the roes (mackerel are best in that part of the season when the roes are not full grown), sprinkle them well with salt and pepper, add the bay-leaves, allspice, peppercorns, vinegar, and about ¼ of a pint of water, cover with a greased paper, and bake in a cool oven for nearly 1 hour. Let them remain in the liquor until required.

Time.—About 1 hour. Average Cost, 6d. to 1s. each. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable from April to July.

Ingredients.—Mackerel, common salt, to each 8 ozs. of which add 1 oz. of saltpetre.

Method.—Clean and open the fish, empty the inside and dry thoroughly. Cover thickly with salt and saltpetre, let them remain 24 to 36 hours, according to size, then drain well. Hang the mackerel in a row by means of a stick pushed through the sockets of the eye, and dry them in the sun or expose them to the heat of the fire for a day or two. If the ordinary means of smoking in the chimney are available they should be employed; if not, half fill an old cask, open at both ends, with sawdust, put a red-hot iron in the middle of it, and suspend the fish across the cask, which must be covered to keep in the smoke. In about 30 hours the fish will be ready.

Ingredients.—4 grey mullet.

Method.—Clean the fish, and, if very large, place them in warm salted water; if small, they may be put into hot water, and cooked gently for 15 or 20 minutes. Serve with anchovy or melted butter sauce.

Time.—From 15 to 20 minutes. Average Cost, 1s. 9d. to 2s. Allow 1 small mullet to each person. Seasonable all the year, but best from July to October.