The new century cookery book

Wipe the smelt with a. damp cloth, remove the fillets, skin and bone the whiting, pound the fillets of smelts and whiting in a mortar till smooth, add the bechamel sauce, and season with salt, pepper, and a tiny pinch of cayenne. All the ingredients used must be kept as cold as possible to prevent curdling, it is therefore best to keep them on the ice till wanted. Incorporate the white of egg, and rub all through a fine hair sieve. Whip about a quarter of a gill of double cream, and mix this with the above. Keep the basin containing the farce on the ice whilst stirring in the cream. Grease a plain timbale or charlotte mould with clarified butter, decorate the bottom of the mould with fancifully-cut slices of truffle, arrange the latter in the form of a pretty border or rosette. Three parts fill the mould with the preparation, and poach in the usual manner. 579. Pétoncles à la Provençale (Scallops in Provençale Style). — 18 scallops, | pint of white stock, 2 oz. of blotter, ^ gill cream; 1 small onion, 2 shallots 1 oz. flour, 3 yolks- of eggs, 3 mushrooms. Put the scallops in a stewpan with one ounce of butter, and let it cook for ten minutes. Peel and chop finely the onion and shallots, blanch them in water, and drain. Put them in a saucepan with an ounce of butter, and cook until light brown ; stir in the flour, stir a few minutes over the fire, moisten with scallop liquor and the stock, let it simmer for fifteen minutes, stir in the yolks of eggs, one at a time, season with pepper, salt, and a pinch of cayenne, put in the scallops, let them get thoroughly hot, but on no account allow the sauce to boil ; mix in the cream just before serving, dress the scallops neatly on a dish, pour the remaining sauce round them, garnish the dish with fleurons of puff-pastry, and serve. 580. JPetoncles an Gratin. — Prepare and cook the scallops as above directed, dress in dome-shape on a buttered gratin-dish, sauce over thickly with the sauce when cold, sprinkle with bread-crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese, place a few small bits of butter here and there on the surface, and bake in a hot oven for ten minutes. Place the dish on another dish with a folded napkin and serve. 581. Blanchailles (Whitebaif). — 1 quart whitebait, flour, salt, ana pepper, lard for frying, lent on, brown bread and butter. Keep the whitebait on the ice until the last moment, drain the fish from the water in a colander or sieve, spread out a clean cloth on the table, place the pan containing the lard on the fire and let it get thoroughly hot ; sprinkle a good handful of flour on the cloth, put the fish on the cloth, flour well, fold and shake' gently, but sufficiently well to separate each fish ; shake out into a wire basket or wicker sieve, and plunge into the boiling lard, fry a pale golden colour (two minutes is sufficient to cook them), shake gently all the time they are cooking ; when done put on to a clean cloth or paper to absorb the fat, sprinkle with salt and pepper (a little cayenne if liked), dish upon a hot dish with folded napkin, and serve with slices of lemon and thinly-cut brown bread and butter. 582. Sprats ( Melettes ). — Although not considered a fine fish, sprats are highly appreciated and enjoyed by many. It is an inexpensive and dainty little fish.