Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Have three pounds of fresh halibut cut into thin slices. Remove the skin from the slices, and then cut them into narrow strips. Cut a large onion into thin slices, and spread over the fish. Now sprinkle with the juice of half a lemon, and season slightly with salt and pepper. Cover the dish closely, and let it stand for an hour ; then remove the onion. Have half a cupful of butter washed free of salt. Put half of this quantity into a frying-pan, and when it has become hot, put in enough fish to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook for three minutes on one side, and then turn and cook for as many minutes on the other, being careful when turning not to break the pieces. Take up the fish, and place it in a gratin dish or a stonechina platter, arranging it neatly on the sides of the dish, and leaving an open space in the centre. When all the fish has been fried, cover it with a sauce made as follows : — Rub together in a small saucepan four table-spoonfuls of butter and three of flour. Add to this mixture a slice of onion, a slice of carrot, a slight grating of nutmeg, a bay leaf, a sprig of parsley, and one cupful and a half of white stock (water in which a fowl has been boiled will do). Simmer gently for thirty minutes; then add a cupful of cream, and salt and pepper to suit the taste. Boil up once, and strain. Of course, when the sauce is poured over the fish, some of it will flow into the centre of the dish ; but that is not an objection. Place the dish of fish and sauce in the oven for twelve minutes. Boil a quart of potato balls in clear water for twelve minutes ; then drain off the water, and season the balls with salt, pepper, and butter. When the fish is taken from the oven, pour the balls into the centre of the dish, and sprinkle a table-spoonful of chopped parsley over them. Garnish the sides of the dish with sprigs of parsley. Serve without delay. Fillets of Halibut a la Poulette. This is a nice Lenten dish. It requires three pounds of halibut, half a cupful of butter, two large onions, the juice of a lemon, three hard-boiled eggs, and small quantities of flour, salt, and pepper. After freeing the fish of skin and bones, cut it into slices about half an inch thick, and cut these into strips about three inches long and two wide. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and lay a thin slice of onion upon each strip. Cover the fish with a large dish, and put away for half an hour. At the end of that time melt the butter in a soup-plate, and after removing the onion from the fish, dip the strips into the butter. Roll them up, and pin each piece with a wooden toothpick ; then dip them into the butter once more, and after placing them in a tin pan, dredge thickly with flour. Bake for twenty minutes in a hot oven. Meanwhile cut the whites of the eggs into rings, and grate the yolks through a sieve. When the fish is cooked, spread the rolls upon a hot dish, remove the little skewers, and pour white sauce into the dish. Sprinkle the grated yolks over the fish, and use the whites for a garnish. Halibut au Gratin.