Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Pike, Stewed. — Clean and scale a pike ■weighing about four pounds, and cut it into slices three-quarters of an inch thick. Dissolve two ounces of butter in a stewpan. Put with it a shallot and a small onion chopped small, a table-spoonful of shred parsley, two cloves, and a little pepper and salt. Shake these ingredients over the fire for five or six minutes, then pour over them half a pint of stock or water, a glassful of claret, and a glassful of vinegar. Lay the fish in the stewpan, cover closely, and let it simmer until done enough. Take it up, and lay it on a hot dish. Thicken the sauce with a little flour and butter, stir into it a tablespoonful of bruised capers, let it boU a minute, and pour it over the fish. Time, altogether, three-quarters of an hour. Probable cost, uncertain. Sufficient for four or five persons. Pike, Stewed in Gravy.— Wash and cleanse a pike, and lard it thickly with bacon. Put it in a stewpan, with an ounce of butter, and with slices of veal and bacon under and over it, cover closely, and let it steam gently ior a quarter of an hour. Pour upon it half a pint of gravy and a glass of wine, and 'let it simmer until done enough. Serve on a hot dish, with the gravy in which the fish was stewed poured around it. Time to stew, thirty to forty minutes, according to size. Probable cost, uncertain. Sufiicient for four or five persons. Pike, Stuffing for.— Take as many finely-grated bread-crumbs as will fiU the body of the pike two-thirds full. Make up the other third with finely-shred beef-suet, and add a liberal seasoning of pepper and salt, two table-spoonfuls of chopped parsley, the rind of half a lemon finely-minced, and a tea-spoonful of fennel and chervil. Moisten the mixture with the yolks of one or two eggs. When mushrooms are in season, half a dozen button-mushrooms may be minced and added to the rest. Or beard and mince a dozen oysters. Mix with them four ounces of finely-grated bread-crumbs, three ounces of shred suet, a dessert-spoonful of minced savoury herbs, and a little salt, cayenne, and grated nutmeg. Moisten the whole with the yolk of an egg and the liquor from the oysters, and mix the ingredients till they form a smooth paste. The body of the pike should be Wipe dry with a soft cloth before the stuffing is put into it, and ,it should then be sewed up securely with soft cotton. When a larger quantity of stuffing has been made than is required to fill the fish, it may be made into cakes, which should be fried in butter, and used for garnishing.