Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Cod’S Liver.- — The liver should never be cooked with the Cod. It must be put into boiling salted water, and boiled till tender; this will probably take ten minutes. Serve the liver whole on a large piece of dry toast. Those who have not been saturated with cod liver oil in their youth enjoy this dish. Cod Sounds. — These must be soaked in salt and water for some hours, and then boiled in milk and water till tender. Change the milk and water half way through the boiling, replacing it with a fresh supply boiling hot. Cut up the Sounds into small pieces, make some veloute sauce hot and serve them in it. Hand quarters of lemon with the Sounds. This dish is said to be very nutritious. Salt Cod with Potatoes and Egg- Sauce.-— Steep a pound .and a half of Salt Cod for six or eight hours in lukewarm water, SALT COD WITH POTATOES AND EGG SAUCE 79 changing it three times. Then leave the Cod in cold water for three hours longer. Put the fish on to boil in cold water ; as soon as it boils ease off the fire, and let the Cod simmer for five minutes. Drain the fish, and set it on a hot dish on a bed of nicely mashed potato, and pour a pint of well-made hard-boiled egg sauce over it. The potato should be worked more as a puree in the French way, that is, diluted with stock or milk until it can be poured out of the saucepan about the consistency of porridge. [_Wyvern.~\ For the Egg Sauce make some melted butter, using the water in which the Cod was simmered (the water in which it was soaked would be too salt). . Boil three or four eggs hard, cut up yolks and whites into small pieces a quarter of an inch square, or into dice, and stir them into the melted butter. This way of serving Salt Cod is infinitely superior to that generally seen. In former days a puree of parsnips was always served with Salt Cod. Herring’S. — Herrings are the most abundant of all Sea Fish, and exist in incredible numbers in the German Ocean and the northern parts of the Atlantic, as well as in the seas north of Asia. These are the true Herrings which are eaten when young as Whitebait, when fresh as Herrings, and when cured as Bloaters. Sprats and Pilchards (or Sardines) belong to the same species of fish as Herrings. There are in all sixty different species of Herring in various parts, of the world, but the true Herring can always be known by the oval patch of little teeth on the centre of its palate ; a peculiarity which is not found in the other species. The Herring Fishery is of enormous importance, not only as providing a valuable article of food and of commerce, but as giving employment to thousands of persons either in catching the fish or in curing them. Herrings when in perfection are generally about twelve inches long. The fishery begins off the West Coast of Scotland in April, and lasts till July, when the herrings migrate to the East coast, and move gradually southward as the season advances. The fresh Herrings from Loch Fyne are said to be the best, and are considered to be at their best in May. Herrings are excellent when plainly boiled (if possible in fish broth) as soon as they are taken out of the sea. The Herring among Sea Fish, like the Trout among Freshwater 8o