Home › The Principles of Cookery › Sardine Fritters

Sardine Fritters

Cut slices of roll or loaf bread into equal-sized shapes. They must be a good half-inch thick, and enough of them to form a ring round the edge of a small dish. Beat two or three eggs, and mix with them rather more than their measure of milk. Soak the bread slices in this, and fry them in butter to a delicate pale brown. Lay the slices round the edge of your dish, letting one slice rest on the edge of the other. Place poached eggs in the middle of the dish, and put on them the following sauce, which must be just thick enough to spread. Mince the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs quite small. Chop fine some parsley, a little sprig of tarragon, and some pimpernel or burnet. Melt a piece of butter in a stewpan; put in the minced herbs, and stir them a few minutes to soften; then add salt, pepper, and the minced eggs, with a dessert-spoonful of gravy, the same of lemon-juice or vinegar, a spoonful of capers whole, a little oil and mustard, and, if required, a few crumbs to thicken. Stir all together. Put a small tuft on each poached egg, and spread the rest on the wreath of sippets. Take about a dozen sardines, bone them, and mince them small with a piece of butter and a little cayenne pepper. Divide and spread this on the sippets. Place them to warm for a minute in the oven, and serve directly after the soup.