Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/417

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Ingredients.—1 lb. of puff-paste, 24 oysters, 2 ozs. of butter, 1 oz. of flour, the yolks of 3 eggs, ¼ of a pint of fish stock or milk (about), ½ a gill of cream, ½ a teaspoonful of lemon juice, salt and pepper, parsley.

Method.—Roll out the paste as directed in the preceding recipe. Take a large, fluted oval cutter, dip it into hot water, and stamp out 2 pieces of paste. Remove the centre of one piece of paste with a hot wet smaller cutter. Wet the edge of the piece of paste which is intact, place the ring of paste on the top of it, and brush the surface with yolk of egg. Bake in a hot oven; when done, scoop out a little of the inside, fill with the oyster mixture (see oyster patties), and decorate with a little lobster coral and parsley.

Time.—To bake, about 20 minutes. Average Cost, 3s. to 3s. 6d., exclusive of the paste. Sufficient for one vol-au-vent. Seasonable from September to April.

Ingredients.—4 perch, salt.

Method.—The peculiarity of the perch is the difficulty experienced in removing its scales. Sometimes it is boiled and the scales removed afterwards, but a better plan is to plunge the fish for 2 or 3 minutes into boiling water, and then scale it. Before boiling, the fish must be washed in warm water, cleaned, and the gills and fins removed. Have ready boiling water to cover the fish, add salt to taste, and boil them gently from 10 to 20 minutes, according to their size. Serve with Hollandaise or melted butter sauce.

Time.—10 to 20 minutes. Average Cost, 6d. to 1s. each. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable from May to February.

Ingredients.—4 perch, egg, breadcrumbs, frying-fat, salt, pepper, flour.