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Cooking of True Proteids Continued: Fish: Baked

ROLLED FILLETS OF BASS BAKED Remove the flesh from the bass in two fillets (as is described in the preceding recipe). Put the fillets in a dish, squeeze over them the juice of half a lemon, put slices of onion between, and set them aside in a cool place until ready to cook. Then roll the fillets, separately and loosely; into turban shapes, put bits of salt pork over them, and set to cook in a hot oven. After four or five minutes baste with salt pork fat and reduce the heat. Let cook about twenty minutes, basting five times. Leave two tablespoonfuls of the fat in the pan after the fish has been taken out; add to this two tablespoonfuls of flour and one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and pepper, and cook until frothy, then add a cup of broth made from the bones, bits of onion, parsley and a few slices of carrot, and cook until boiling. Add two tablespoonfuls of capers or fine-chopped cucumber pickles. Serve in a fish boat or bowl.

FISH BAKED IN CREAM OR MILK A slice of halibut or fillets of bass or pickerel are particularly good baked and basted during the baking with cream or milk. Use an earthen baking dish. A particularly good dish, (sarraguemines ware), brown outside and white inside, is shown in the illustration of "Rolled Fillets of Black Bass." Rub over the bottom of the dish with butter; lay in the fish, put in a few thin slices of onion and pour in thin cream (milk will do) to nearly cover the fish. Let cook about fifteen minutes. Baste once or twice with the cream. Salt when nearly cooked. Do not have the oven too hot.

CREAMED FISH IN SHELLS, POTATO BORDER (Luncheon or Supper, or course at Dinner) Cook a pound of fresh haddock in a cup of water, to which a slice of onion and a tablespoonful of lemon juice have been added. Remove from the liquid, when the flesh separates easily from the bones, or in about ten minutes. Discard the skin and bones, and separate the fish into flakes. Use the liquid in which the fish was cooked, with one-fourth the measure of cream, in making a cup of white sauce. Allow a cup of sauce for each generous cup of the fish. Mix part of the sauce with the fish, and dispose it in buttered scallop shells. Spread a little more sauce over the top, then pipe mashed potatoes around the edge of the shells. Brush the potato with the yolk of an egg, beaten and mixed with a tablespoonful of milk, and set the shells in the oven to brown the edges of the potato. Serve at once with a slice of hard-cooked egg or a hot poached egg in the center of each.

Brushing the potato with the beaten yolk of egg is used mainly with an eye to the appearance of the dish; thus treated the potato will brown more quickly (yolk of egg is quickly affected by heat), but of course it may be omitted. This dish need not necessarily be made from fish cooked for the purpose. It is a particularly good way in which to use "left over fish." FRESH CODFISH, BROILED In ordering the codfish ask the dealer to remove the backbone. Heat the broiler very hot, oil it thoroughly, lay the fish upon it and let cook from fifteen to twenty minutes, the greater part of the time upon the flesh side, but turning several times and basting it with butter. When thoroughly cooked carefully loosen from the broiler and slide on to a hot platter; sprinkle with salt and spread over it the following butter.

RED PEPPER BUTTER Beat one-fourth a cup of butter to a cream; gradually beat into it the pulp from cooked red peppers, scraped from the skin and seeds, to give the color and flavor desired. Finish with a tablespoonful of lemon juice, added a few drops at a time. For the dish shown in the illustration, chili peppers, the length of the finger, were used. These come put up in small bottles, imported from England. They are of good flavor and may be used in preparing anchovy sandwiches or canapes, tomato sauce, rechauffes of meat or fish, or in Philadelphia relish or other recipes, where green peppers are called for. SALMON STEAK, BAKED Select a slice from near the middle of the salmon. Have it cut about three-fourths an inch thick. Such a slice will weight from half to three-quarters of a pound. Butter an agate pan, lay the steak upon it, and pour around about half a cup of boiling water, to which a teaspoonful of lemon juice or vinegar and a scant half teaspoonful of salt have been added. Butter a piece of waxed paper and lay over the fish.

Set the pan directly over the fire and let stand until the water boils, then cook in the oven ten minutes. In the meantime, pare three or four large, round potatoes, and with a French scoop cut from them as many balls as possible. Put these over the fire, in boiling, salted water, to cook till tender. Melt a tablespoonful and a half of butter; in this cook a tablespoonful and a half of flour, then add half a cup of water and the liquid in the fish-pan and let cook until boiling. Set the fish on a platter with the potatoes, drained and rolled in the pan with a tablespoonful of butter and half a teaspoonful of salt. Put two slices of lemon at the base of the fish, and sprinkle the whole with fine-chopped parsley. Serve the sauce in a bowl. FINNAN HADDIE, "BOILED" Select a thick fish. Take half of it. Put flesh side down in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and set to cook on the back of the range. In about half an hour draw to a hotter part of the range, and gradually heat the water to the simmering-point. Let simmer from five to ten minutes, then drain the fish carefully. Serve on a hot platter. Pass at the same time hot, boiled potatoes and egg sauce.

FINNAN HADDIE, DELMONICO STYLE Prepare the fish as above, then separate the flesh into flakes, discarding skin and bones. For each cup of fish prepare a cup of cream sauce; i.e., melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, cook in it two level tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and pepper, and gradually add one cup of milk. Reheat the fish in the sauce. To serve au gratin, put the fish and sauce into a buttered au gratin dish, in alternate layers, having the last layer of sauce. Cover with cracker crumbs (one-third a cup to three tablespoonfuls of butter) mixed with melted butter, and set into a hot oven, to brown the crumbs.