Page:The English housekeeper, 6th.djvu/266

238 put it on to boil again, with all the skin and trimmings of the fish, strain and pour this into the dish for gravy. Lay a puff paste over, and bake in a slow oven half an hour. Cod Sounds must be washed well, then soak several hours, and lay them in a cloth to dry. Put into a stew-pan 2 oz. fresh butter, and half an onion sliced, brown these, and add a table-spoonful of flour rubbed into a small piece of butter, and ½ pint boiling water; let it boil up, put in about 8 cod sounds, season with pepper, the juice of a lemon, and essence of anchovies, stir it a few minutes over the fire, put it in a pie-dish, cover with a light paste, and bake it an hour.—Another and richer: Cut the fish into fillets; season them with pounded mace, pepper, cayenne, and salt; or, if whitings, eels, trout, or any fish that will admit of it, do not cut them up, but season the inside, and turn the fish round, fastening with a thread. Have some good fish stock, warm it, add seasoning, and any catsup you like. If you wish it to be very rich, line the dish with fish forcemeat, lay some bits of butter at the bottom, put a thick layer of the fish, then strew over chopped shrimps, prawns, or oysters, then the rest of the fish, strain the stock over it, enough for gravy, cover with a light puff paste, and bake it.

This is a rich compound, at its very plainest, and may be made very rich indeed. Parboil 1, 2, or 3, according to the size of your dish. Take out all the meat, cut it in pieces, and lay them in the dish, in alternate layers, with oysters cut in two, and bread-crumbs, moisten with essence of anchovies. Whilst you are doing this, let all the shells and the spawn of the lobster be stewed in half water and half vinegar: add mace and cayenne; when done, strain it; add wine and catsup, boil it up, and pour over the lobster. Lay a light puff paste over, and bake it.

Skin eels, and cut them in pieces 2 inches long. Season highly, and put a little vinegar into the sauce. This, and all fish pies, may be baked open, with a paste edging.