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Sole, Normande

Choose a thick sole, scale and clean it, and draw off the dark skin by cutting it through at the tail end and drawing it over the head. Butter thickly a dish that will stand the fire, and strew over it some very thin slices of onions. A silver dish is the most suitable for the purpose, as the fish should be served in the dish in which it was baked. Season the sole with salt and pepper, and lay it on the onion; sprinkle a little chopped parsley on the surface, and moisten the fish well with French white wine. Put it in a gentle oven, and bake it until done enough. Take a dozen fine large mussels, cleanse and scrape them, boil them in the usual way, beard and drain them, and lay them on the sole. Make a quarter of a pint of rich white sauce, mix with this the gravy from the sole and a little of that in which the mussels were cooked. Reduce the sauce till it coats the spoon; pour a little of it upon the sole and the mussels, and put the dish again in the oven for a few minutes to make it quite hot, but be careful not to colour the sauce at all. Serve very hot, and send the sauce which remains to table in a tureen. For a superlative dish, oysters and mushrooms may be laid upon the sole, as well as mussels, and the liquor from the oysters may be added to the sauce. Also fried smelts, crayfish, and fried croutons of bread may be used to garnish the dish. When preparing the fish for baking, it should be remembered that cider and perry replaee French wine so well that it is almost needless to employ the latter. The Normans use the best sparkling cider--"Sillerie de Normandie." Time to bake the sole, half to three-quarters of an hour, according to size. Probable cost, one thick sole, 1s. Sufficient for three persons.