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Turbot Fillets

A small turbot may be used for this purpose, or if a turbot is larger than is required for immediate use, it may be cut into halves, one half may be filleted, and the other half dressed in a different way. Clean and dry the fish, and raise the flesh from the bones with a sharp knife. Take off the dark skin, but leave the white skin untouched. Divide the meat into neat pieces the size and shape of small cutlets, and either fry, stew, or bake them. To fry them, dip them into beaten egg and bread-crumbs, fry in hot fat till they are lightly browned, drain them, serve neatly arranged like cutlets on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley. To bake them, put a pound of the filleted meat, arranged in a single layer, into a baking-dish with two ounces of sweet butter, a little pepper and salt, and the strained juice of a lemon. Put them in a brisk oven, baste well with the liquor, and bake until done enough. Dish them as before. To stew them, remove all the skin from the fish, dredge the fillets with some flour, and fry them till they are lightly browned. Put them into the stewpan, and pour over them as much nicely-seasoned stock as will cover them. Let them stew gently until done enough. Lift them out of the sauce with a fish-slicer, lay them on a hot dish, and keep them warm. Skim the gravy, thicken with a spoonful of brown thickening, add a spoonful of mushroom ketchup and a glassful of light wine, let it boil up, and strain it over the fish. Serve very hot. Time to fry the fillets, five or six minutes; to bake them, about twenty minutes; to stew them, ten to fifteen minutes.