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Red Mullet, Filleted and Fried

Take half a dozen red mullet, scrape them lightly, cut off their heads, cut the fish open, take out the inside, and carefully preserve the liver. Divide the fish in halves, and lift the flesh from the bones, so that each mullet will make two fillets. Dry and flour these, and dip them either into egg and seasoned bread-crumbs, or into a little frying-batter. Fry in hot fat, and when they are lightly browned on both sides serve on a hot dish, and send a sauce prepared as follows to table with them. Beat the boiled livers of the fish with the back of a wooden spoon till they are smooth. Drop them into a saucepan containing the third of a pint of thin melted butter made with water in which the livers have been boiled for five or six minutes. Stir the sauce over the fire till it is thick, season with pepper and salt, and just before serving add to it a dessert-spoonful of lemon-juice, and half a glassful of claret, if liked. Time to fry, ten minutes or more.