Salt Codfish, Spanish Style

Cut pieces of salt codfish two inches long by one wide; soak them for eighteen hours, changing the water three times. Fry in one gill of oil to a golden color, three cloves of garlic, and three tablespoonfuls of chopped onions; drain off the oil, and add two bay leaves, thyme, whole pepper, two gills of vinegar and one gill of water, also some sweet Spanish peppers, the codfish and half a bottle of white wine; have this remain near the boiling point until thoroughly cooked, pass the stock through a sieve, put it back with the codfish, season to taste with nutmeg and pepper, then thicken with bread-crumbs soaked in water and well pressed out. Have prepared small stuffed tomatoes and round, hollow croutons of bread fried in oil; dress the fish in the center of a dish, and surround with the tomatoes placed on top of the croutons.