The new century cookery book

Sprats can be cooked in several ways, grilled, fried, pickled, or smoke-dried ; in flavour they are not unlike sardines. In fact, many so-called cheap sardines are often nothing else than sprats preserved in oil. The best and most popular way to cook sprats is to grill them. Owing to their oily nature,, they require no other preparation beyond cleaning and flouring. They are often broiled in an omelet or frying pan, but it is best to dredge them with a little flour before cooking them. They require from six to eight minutes to cook, grilling or broiling. Serve them with quarters of lemon and thin slices of brown bread and butter. 583. Melettes frites (Fried Sprats, No. 1). — Wipe the fish well with a cloth, dust with flour, and broil in a frying-pan over a clear fire for ten minutes, season with salt, dish up and serve with quarters of lemon and thinly cut buttered slices of brown bread. 584. Fried Sprats (No. 2). — Wipe the fish, as above, dip in frying batter (No. 35)., and coat each fish well, drop into hot fat or lard, fry a golden colour, drain on a cloth, season with salt and cayenne, serve with tomato sauce (No. 271), and quartered lemons. 585. Fried Sprats (JNo. 3). — -Wipe the fish as above, dip in beaten egg and bread- crumbs, fry in hot fat or lard, and serve as above. 586. Be if/nets d’Huitres ( Oyster Fritters). — 12 plumy oysters, 6 thin slices of streaky bacon, 2 oz. flour, a pinch of salt, 1 egg, \ oz. butter, frying -fat, parsley , ^ lemon. Beard the oysters, and sprinkle over with lemon-juice, flatten the bacon with a cutlet-bat, and cut each slice in two crossways, roll up . each oyster in a half-slice of bacon, and trim the edges. Prepare a batter in the following manner : sift the flour into a basin, add a pinch of salt, stir in the yolk of egg, and ipoisten with sufficient tepid water (about a tablespoonful) and the butter (oiled) to form a smooth paste, beat up well with a wooden spoon, and allow it to stand for a time, whisk the white of egg to a stiff froth and add it to the batter ; dip each oyster and bacon into the batter — covering completely — and drop one by one into boiling fat or clarified butter. Fry a golden colour, drain and dish up ; fry some washed and picked parsley and garnish the dish with this. 587. Cromeskies aux Hultres. — H doz. 'sauce oysters, 8 yolks of eggs, 2 dessertspoonfuls creme de riz, 1 oz. butter, 12 thin slices of bacon, 1 tablespoonful of cream, | lemon, white pepper, salt, and mace ; frying -batter. Lard or dripping for frying parsley. Blanch and beard the oysters, preserve the liquor. Mince them coarsely, put the butter in a stewpan, when melted add the oysters, season with a little pepper, salt, and a pinch of ground mace ; stir in the creme de riz (ground rice) ; add the liquor of the oysters, the cream, a teaspoonful of lemon-juice, and half a teaspoonful of chopped parsley ; when hot, stir in the yolks of the eggs, let them bind, and put the mixture on a plate, or dish to cool. Divide into twelve equal portions, shape into little rolls, wrap each in a piece of thinly cut bacon, dip in batter, and fry in hot fat a golden colour. Drain, dish up, and garnish with fried parsley.