The household (of the Detroit free press)

The general defect in cooking trout when they are fried, is the overcooking. Trout should never be done to a crisp. When overcooked you might as well fry and eat chips — and one would taste just as well. Pork or bacon may do very well to cook trout with in camp, but it injures the flavor. The pork is not improved and the trout are worse, not better. If they have to be fried, use butter, or, what is better, sweet oil. Have the butter or oil quite hot, and do not cook too much. Try them with a fork. Put no egg or batter on them. They are better perfectly plain. If you want to broil them, wrap them up in a piece of glazed paper, which should be well buttered ; sprinkle a very little salt and pepper on them ; put them on a spring gridiron, such as oysters are broiled on, and turn the gridiron over from side to side ; use lemons [illustration: Brook Trout] juice over them ; you do not want parsley. A boiled trout is positively better than either a fried or a broiled trout, as it is a very delicate fish, and flaky, like salmon, and it ought not to be overcooked ; use cold water, slightly salted, which bring up to the boil; serve with plain melted butter ; brown butter is not an appropriate sauce. Baked trout are fairly good ; dry the fish, do not split them ; lay them on a baking dish, add a little butter, pepper and salt. It is the over-cooking which, nine times in ten, spoils this very fine fish. BAKED SALMON TROUT. After the fish is well cleaned, lay it at full length in a baking pan, with just enough water to keep from scorching. If large, score the backbone with a sharp knife. Bake slowly, basting often with butter and water. By the time it is done, have ready in a saucepan a cup of cream, diluted with two tablespoonf uls of hot water, in which, stir carefully two tablespoonfuls of melted butter and a little chopped parsley, heat this in a vessel set within another of boiling water, add the gravy from the pan, boil up once to thicken, pour on the trout and serve. Garnish with parsley. TURBOT. Take a fine white fish and steam until done, then bone it and sprinkle with pepper and salt ; take one quart of milk, one-quarter pound of flour, one bunch of parsley, one bunch of thyme, three slices of an onion, salt and pepper. Put over the fire and stir until it comes to a thick cream, then remove it and add two eggs. Put in a baking dish one layer of fish and one of the sauce, and so on, placing the last layer of the sauce. Sprinkle with rolled crackers or bread crumbs and cheese. Bake about half an hour in a moderate oven. TO BAKE FISH. When cleaning the fish, do not cut off the head and tail ; stuff it and sew it, or confine the stuffing by winding the cord several times around the fish ; lay several pieces of pork, cut in strings, across the top, sprinkle over water, pepper, salt and bread crumbs ; put some hot water into the pan ; bake in a hot oven, basting very often. When done, the top should be nicely browned. If not basted often a baked fish will be very dry. DRESSING FOR FISH.