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PERCH (a la Maitre d'Hotel)

Put into a saucepan as much cold water as will cover the fish, with half a dozen chives, a handful of parsley, and a little pepper and salt. Place it on the fire, and bring it to a boil. Wash the fish in lukewarm water to free it from slime, empty it, remove the gills and the fins, and scrape it carefully. Plunge it into the boiling water, and when done enough, which will be when the flesh gives way on being pressed with the finger, drain and dish it on a folded napkin, garnish with curled parsley, and send a sauce, made as follows, to table in a tureen. Mix two ounces of fresh butter smoothly with one ounce of flour. Add a quarter of a pint of milk, a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, a little pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg, and a table-spoonful of strained lemon-juice. Stir the mixture over the fire without ceasing until it is on the point of boiling. Pour it into a tureen, add to it a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and serve very hot. Time to boil the fish, according to the size: small fish, ten minutes; large, half an hour. Probable cost, uncertain, perch being seldom offered for sale. Sufficient, a moderate-sized perch for each person.