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Perch, Stewed

Take three or four moderate-sized perch. Wash, scale, and empty them, and take out the gills, put them into a stewpan, and barely cover them with weak stock, or water. Put with them a large onion cut into slices, four cloves, a bunch of parsley, a small sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, two pinches of salt, and two pinches of pepper. Simmer gently until the fish is done enough. In order to ascertain when this is the case, press the flesh with the finger, when it should give way to the touch. Lift out the perch, and drain them. Strain the liquid in which they were stewed, thicken it with a little flour and butter, and boil it quickly for a few minutes. Stir into it a wine-glassful of claret, a table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, a tea-spoonful of the essence of anchovy, a small pinch of cayenne, and a table-spoonful of chopped parsley. Skin the fish (but preserve the fins), put them upon a hot dish, strain the sauce over them, and put the fins at each side of them; serve very hot. Time to stew the perch, fifteen or twenty minutes, according to size. Probable cost, uncertain, perch being seldom offered for sale. Sufficient for two or three persons.