Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Skate, Fried. — Cut the skate into square pieces ; let these lie in cold water with a little vinegar or lemon-juice, a sprig of parsley, and a few peppercorns, for an hour; drain, dry, and flour them, dip them in egg and bread-crumbs, and fry them slowly in hot fat till they are brightly browned. Send brown sauce, tomato, jjiquant, or caper sauce to table with them. Time, eight to ten minutes, according to thickness. If skate is too much done it is spoiled. Skate, Fried (another way). — When the fish are very small, pickle them in vinegar, salt, pepper, a sliced onion, some parsley, and lemon-juice, for about an hour. Next drain them, and dip them into an omelet, and then into flour. Then fry them in hot dripping, and send them up either with or without sauce. When skate is boiled with marinade, the skin must remain while boiling, otherwise the colour of the marinade will dye the fish ; take off the skin after it is done, and dress it in the dish immediately. Skate, Fried, To Eat Cold.— Put the skate into boiling water, and boil it for five minutes ; take it up, drain and dry it, and dip it into egg and bread-crumbs. Fry it slowly in hot fat, let it get cold, and serve garnished with parsley. Send mustard, pepper, and vinegar to table with it. Skate, Marinated.— Remove the skin on both sides, and divide the fish into slices two or three inches long and an inch broad. Lay these in a dish, pour vinegar over them, and add a little pepper and salt, a bunch of parsley, and a sliced onion. Let the fish soak for some hours ; when wanted, drain the pieces, dip them in flour, and fry them slowly in hot fat till they are brightly browned. Send them to table SKA ( S81 ) SKA in a hot dish, garnished with fried parsley. Send caper sauce to table with them. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. per pound. Skate, Plain Boiled. — Take off the skin. Boil it in salt and water, and send it up on a clean cloth with shrimp sauce, or any other sauce, in a boat. Skate, Sauces for. — The following sauces may all be served with skate : — White sauce, melted butter, onion sauce, parsley sauce, shrimp sauce, anchovy sauce, tomato sauce, piquant sauce, and liver sauce. Well-made black butter sauce is excellent with skate. {Sec Skate with Black Butter.) Caper sauce is, perhaps, the sauce most usually served. Skate Soup. — The bones of skate arc so delicate and gristly that they can easily be converted to jelly ; consequently, good nourishing soup may be made of this hsh. Clean two pounds of skate, and hang it in the open air for a day ; cut it into smaU neat fillets, and put the trimmings and the head into a saucepan with two quarts of fish stock or water. Let it simmer gently for an hour, and carefully remove the scum as it rises; then add an onion, a turnip, a btmch of parsley, and a few sticks of celery, and simmer all gently together till the liquor is reduced to one quart. \Vhen this point is reached, the soup may be finished in two ways : either thicken the sauce with a little browTi thickening, add the fillets, simmer them till done enough, and flavour the soup with a dessert-spoonful of ketchup, a glass of sherry, and pepper and salt if required; or drop two ounces of vermicelli into the soup, and when it is done enough, which it will be in a few minutes, mix with the soup a quarter of a pint of cream beaten up