Cocoa, To Make
INGREDIENTS. -Put into the cup half a teaspoonful of Fry's Pure Concentrated Cocoa, and a spoonful of fine white sugar; fill up slowly with boiling water, stirring the while.
Add milk or cream to suit the palate, and more sugar if required.
The extreme solubility and strength of this choice Cocoa are strikingly apparent on the addition COCOA-BEAN. of the milk or cream, although the Cocoa may be used without either.
Cocoa, To Make. INGREDIENTS. -Put a large teaspoonful of Fry's Malted Cocoa into a breakfast cup, and make it into a smooth paste, with sufficient cold milk; then fill up with water not quite boiling, adding cream and sugar to taste. If desired, milk, or milk and water, may be used in place of the plain water.
Cod. Cod should be chosen for the table when it is plump and round near the tail, when the hollow behind the head is deep, and when the sides are undulated as if they were ribbed. The glutinous parts THE COD. about the head lose their delicate flavour after the fish has been twenty-four hours out of the water. The great point by which the cod should be judged is the firmness of its flesh; and, although the cod is not firm when it is alive, its quality may be arrived at by pressing the finger COD À LA CRÊME. into the flesh: if this rises immediately, the flesh is good; if not, it is stale.
Another sign of its goodness is, if the fish, when it is cut, exhibits a bronze appearance, like the silver side of a round of beef; ; when this is the case the flesh will be firm when cooked. Stiffness in a cod, or in any other fish, is a sure sign of freshness, though not always of quality.
Sometimes codfish, though exhibiting signs of rough usage, will eat much better than those with red gills, so strongly recommended by many cookery books. This appearance is generally caused by the fish having been knocked about at sea, in the well-boats, in which they are conveyed from the fishing-grounds to market.
Cod à la Béchamel. (Cold Meat Cookery.) - INGREDIENTS for small dish. Any remains of cold cod, 4 tablespoonfuls of béchamel (see BÉCHAMEL SAUCE), 2 oz. of butter; seasoning to taste of pepper and salt; fried bread, and a few bread-crumbs.
Flake the cod carefully, leaving out all skin and bone; put the béchamel in a stewpan with the butter, and stir it over the fire till the latter is melted; add seasoning, put in the fish, and mix it well with the sauce. Make a border of fried bread round the dish, lay in the fish, sprinkle over with bread-crumbs, and baste with butter. Brown either before the fire or with a salamander, and garnish with toasted bread cut in fanciful shapes.
TIME.- hour.
Cod à la Crême. - INGREDIENTS for dish for 3 persons.-1 large slice of cod, 1 oz. of butter, 1 chopped shalot, a little minced parsley, teacupful of white stock, 1/4 pint of milk or cream, flour to thicken, cayenne and lemon-juice to taste, teaspoonful of powdered sugar. AVERAGE COST, with milk, 1s.
Boil the cod, and while hot, break it into flakes; put the butter, shalot, parsley and stock into a stewpan, and let them boil for five minutes. Stir in sufficient flour to thicken, and pour to it the milk or cream.
Simmer for 10 minutes, add the cayenne and sugar, and, when liked, a little lemonjuice. Put the fish in the sauce to warm gradually, but do not let it boil. Serve in a dish garnished with croutons.
TIME. Rather more than hour.
SEASONABLE from November to March.
Note-The remains of fish from the preceding day answer very well for this dish.
COD À L'ITALIENNE, Cod à l'Italienne. - INGREDIENTS for dish for 4 or 5 persons.-2 slices of crimped cod, 1 shalot, 1 slice of ham minced very fine, 1/2 pint of white stock, when liked, 1/2 teaspoonful of cream; salt to taste, a few drops of garlic vinegar. a little lemon-juice, teaspoonful of powdered sugar. AVERAGE COST, 2s.
Chop she shalots, mince the ham very fine, pour on the stock, and simmer for 15 minutes. If the colour should not be good, add cream in the above proportion, and strain it through a fine sieve; season it, and put in the vinegar, lemon-juice and sugar. Now boil the cod, take out the middle bone, and skin it; put it on the dish without breaking, and pour the sauce over it.
TIME.- hour.
SEASONABLE from November to March.
Cod à la Maître d'Hôtel.-IN- GREDIENTS for dish for 4 or 5 persons.-2 lbs. of cod, 1/4 lb. of butter, a little chopped shalot and parsley; pepper to taste; 1/4 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, or rather less when the flavour is not liked; the juice of 1/4 lemon. AVERAGE COST, with fresh fish, is. 6d.; with remains of cold fish, 6d.
Boil the cod, and either leave it whole, or, what is still better, flake it from the bone, and take off the skin. Put it into a stewpan with the butter, parsley, shalot, pepper and nutmeg. Melt the butter gradually, and be very careful that it does not become like oil. When all is well mixed and thoroughly hot, add the lemon-juice, and serve. TIME.- hour.
SEASONABLE from November to March.
Note. - Cod that has been left will do for this.