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Fried Smelts

Clean smelts, leaving on heads and tails. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dip in flour, egg, and crumbs, and fry three to four minutes in deep fat. As soon as smelts are put into fat, remove fat to back of range so that they may not become too brown before cooked through. Arrange on hot platter, garnish with parsley, lemon, and fried gelatine. Serve with Sauce Tartare.

Smelts are fried without being skewered, but often are skewered in variety of shapes.

To fry gelatine. Take up a few shreds and drop in hot, deep fat; it will immediately swell and become white; it should at once be removed with a skimmer, then drained. Phosphated or granulated gelatine cannot be used for frying.

Smelts à la Menière Clean six selected smelts, and cut five diagonal gashes on each side. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, cover, and let stand ten minutes. Roll in cream, dip in flour, and sauté in butter. Add to butter in pan two tablespoons flour, one cup White Stock, one and one-third teaspoons Anchovy Essence, and a few drops lemon juice. Just before sauce is poured around smelts, add one and one-half tablespoons butter and one teaspoon finely chopped parsley.

Fried Fillets of Halibut or Flounder Clean fish and cut in long or short fillets. If cut in long fillets, roll, and fasten with small wooden skewers. Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper, dip in crumbs, egg, and crumbs, fry in deep fat, and drain on brown paper. Serve with Sauce Tartare, Fried Fish, Russian Style, Mushroom Sauce Cut two slices chicken halibut in fillets, sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper, pour over one-third cup white wine, cover, and let stand thirty minutes. Drain, dip each piece separately in heavy cream, then in flour, and fry in deep fat. Cook skin and bones removed from fish with five slices carrot, two slices onion, sprig parsley, bit of bay leaf, one-fourth teaspoon peppercorns, and two cups cold water until reduced to one cup liquid. Make sauce of two tablespoons butter, three tablespoons flour, the fish stock, and one-third cup heavy cream. Add yolks two eggs, salt, pepper, cayenne, and white wine to taste.

Arrange fish on serving dish, cover with one-half pound mushroom caps cleaned, then sautéd in butter, and pour over sauce.