The Rural cook book

cooked; it takes from seven to 10 minutes to roast them. Have a covered dish hot, and drop the clams into it as soon as they are taken from the shell. Spread over them a mustard cream sauce and serve at once. To make the sauce: Put one cup of milk over the fire in a double boiler. When boiling, gradually stir into it three tablespoon fuls of butter, one of flour, and one teaspoonful of dry mustard that have been beaten to a creamy mass. Season with salt and pepper and return to the (ire; cook three minutes, and it is ready to serve. Thin slices of brown bread, buttered, are served with roast clams. Baked Fish. — Bluefish, cod, or haddock are the best fish to bake. Clean the fish and make a stuffing as follows : Soak stale bread in cold water for 20 minutes. Press dry, and season with one egg, one tablespoonful melted butter and a small quantity of sage, or the prepared poultry dressing, or a little onion juice, as preferred. When the stuffing has been thoroughly mixed, fill the fish and sew up with needle and thread. Flour the fish well and salt it. Lay a few thin slices of salt pork into the bottom of the baking dish, also a few slices on top of the fish. Baste it often with the liquor which cooks out of it, adding a little water if there is not enough. Allow 15 minutes to the pound for baking fish. Have a moderate oven, as, if very hot, it will not cook well in the middle. New England Codfish.— Select a whole fish, and put it to soak in cold water over night; in the morning wash it clean and cut off the fins and tail. Cook the fish whole; if you have not got a fish kettle place it in a large milk pan partly filled with water. Cover the pan closely and set over a kettle of hot water. It will cook very slowly in this way, say five or six hours, according to the size of the fish, but it will be done properly when ready for the table. Serve it whole, placing it, on a hot platter. Indeed, one of the essentials of a good salt fish dinner is to have everything hot, not only the fish and vegetables, but plates and dishes as well. The dish on which your fish is served must be an ample one, and around the fish you will place a garnish of nicely sliced beets and carrots. With the fish you will serve pork scraps and egg sauce and boiled potatoes. The pork should be cut into dice and fried a rich brown. To make the egg sauce, take two eggs that have been boiled 10 minutes, remove the shell, and cut into little pieces, placing them in the sauce dish. Blend a piece of butter the size of an egg with a tablespoonful of flour, and when the fish is ready to serve, pour over a coffeecupful of boiling water, stir, and pour into the sauce dish with the egg and stir again. If the sauce is too thick, add still more boiling water. When you have not time to cook a salt fish for dinner and desire an emergency dish, try salt fish in cream prepared as follows : Shred a cupful of salt cod, or, if you prefer, use the prepared article, place it in a stewpan over the lire in cold water to cover, and let it come to a boil for a couple of minutes ; pour off the water, add to the fish one pint of sweet milk, and when this boils thicken with flour wet with milk; let it boil four or five minutes, being careful it does not scorch, and serve in a hot, deep dish. Serve pickled beets with this dish, and boiled potatoes. Cuban Codfish. — Pick into fine shreds a cupful of freshened codfish. Cut an onion into thin slices and lightly brown in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter. Add the fish and pour in just enough water to cover. Add a part of a chopped green pepper and a half can of tomatoes. Cover closely and simmer for an hour. If the tomatoes are very juicy, less water is required. Cream a rounded teaspoonful of butter and one of flour; stir into the fish until smooth and cooked; turn the mixture upon thin slices of buttered toast.