Cassell's dictionary of cookery

of its kind, the perch, though very good when plainly dressed, is slightly insipid ; it is therefore very often cooked, as the great Izaak Walton says, "with trouble and charges." When economy is not studied, the following will be found an excellent dish : — Take three mediumsized perch, wash, then scale and empty them, and take out the gills. Lay them in a stewpan, and just cover them with equal parts of sherry and stock, or, if preferred, with sherry only. Put with them a sliced onion, a handful of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a small clove of garlic, and a little pepper and salt, and let them simmer gently until they are sufficiently cooked. Drain them, and keep them hot until the sauce is made. Strain the liquor, put it into a stewpan, and mix gradually with it an ounce of flour which has been smoothly worked with an ounce of butter ; let it boil, then add a large table-spoonful of chopped parsley and half an ounce of cold butter. Stir the sauce until the butter is dissolved. Take the whole of the skin off the perch, pour the sauce over them, and stick the red fins into the middle of the backs; serve as quickly as possible. Time, about a quarter of an hour to stew the perch. It is seldom offered for sale. Sufficient for two or three persons. Perch, Water Souchy.— This is the best way to dress perch. When they are plentiful, take the smallest fish, clean them, cut them into pieces, and boil slowly with some parsleyroots, and whole pepper, and salt, till a strong broth is obtained. Strain the broth through fine muslin, pick out the parsley-roots, slice them, and return them to the strained liquor, in which the larger perch, previously crimped, are to be boiled. When about done, introduce a few bunches of parsley previously scalded in water to preserve their green colour. Serve in a deep dish, accompanied by slices of brown bread-and-butter. No sauce is required, the broth, with the addition at table of pepper and salt, being sufficient. Perch, Water Souchy (another way).— Put into a saucepan as much water as wiU barely cover the fish. Throw into it a little pepper and salt, and a handful of parsley. Wash, clean, and scale the fish. Take out the giUs and cut off the fins, but let the milt and liver remain inside. As soon as the parsley is soft, lay in the fish. Put with it a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and let it simmer gently until it is done enough. Serve on a hot dish, with the liquid in which it was cooked poured over it. If preferred, the fish may be filleted, and weak stock substituted for the water. Send brown, bread and butter to table as an accompaniment. Time to boil, ten to twelve minutes. Perch is seldom offered for sale. Sufficient, one perch for one person.