Cookery for every household

Take 4 or 5 natural or china scallop shells and grease them with a little butter. Coat the insides with some fine bread-crumbs, and lay in some pieces or flakes of nicely cooked fish, piling them rather high in the centre. Then take some good and well-seasoned white sauce and pour it over the fish, coating it well. Smooth over with a knife, sprinkle some more bread-crumbs on the top, lay on one or two small pieces of butter, and bake in the oven from 10 to 12 minutes. The scallops should be nicely browned on the top. Serve with a small slice of cut lemon and a sprig of parsley on the top of each. Notes. — A little grated cheese may be mixed with the bread-crumbs if wished. A few picked shrimps or 1 or 2 oysters put into each scallop Bhell will improve the flavour. Sometimes a nice creamy potato puree (Recipe 552) is piled on the top of the fish instead of the sauce. 359. Fish Scallops, Cold (Coquilles de Poisson) 6 oz. cooked fish. 1 gherkin. 2 or 3 table-sps. mayon- Small cress. naise sauce. Take any remains of nicely cooked fish and break it into flakes or small pieces free from skin and bone. Add to it a little mayonnaise sauce, just enough to bind it together and season it. Arrange this seasoned fish in little china or natural scallop shells, piling it rather high in the centre, and pour a little thick mayonnaise sauce on the top of each, covering the fish entirely. Decorate with some small cress and small pieces of thinly-sliced gherkin, or any other decoration preferred. Note. — Tartare sauce may be used instead of mayonnaise. Sufficient for 4 or 5 scallops. 360. Fish Souffle (Souffle de Poisson) 6 oz. cooked white fish. 1 oz. butter. 1 oz. flour. 1 gill milk or fish stock. 2 yolks and 3 whites of eggs. Sauce — White, anchovy, or hollandaise. A pinch of nutmeg or mace. Grated lemon rind. Pepper and salt. Weigh the fish free from skin and bone, and scrape it down finely with a knife. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and mix until smooth with a wooden spoon. Then pour in the milk or fish stock, and stir until the mixture is thick and begins to draw away from the sides of the saucepan. Put this thick sauce or panada into a mortar with the fish, seasonings, and yolks of eggs. Pound well together, and rub through a fine wire sieve, scraping the sieve well underneath. Beat up the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, and stir them lightly, but thoroughly, into the fish mixture with an iron spoon. Pour all into a well-greased mould or souffle tin, cover with greased paper, and steam slowly until firm to the touch. When ready, lift the souffle from the pan and let it stand 2 minutes. Turn out carefully on to a hot dish, and pour the sauce round. Serve quickly, as it soon falls. Time to steam, about f hour. Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons. 361. Fish Souffle, Baked 6 oz. cooked fish. 4 oz. cooked potato. 2 oz. butter. \ gill milk or cream. 2 eggs. Grated lemon rind. Pepper and salt. Free the fish from all skin and bone, then weigh it and chop it finely. Sieve the potato, which must be very dry and mealy. Put the butter and milk into a saucepan, and when boiling add the sieved potato. Beat with a wooden spoon until very light and creamy, then add the fish, yolks of eggs and seasoning, and beat again. Whip up the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, and stir them lightly in at the last with an iron spoon. Pour