The Rural cook book

Finnan Haddie, Caledonian Style.— Soak one-half of a finnan haddie weighing four pounds, two hours in milk and water to cover, using eqaal parts, having the liquid at a uniformly even tepid temperature. This is best accomplished by having the fish in a drip pan on the back of the range. Trim the fish to fit a copper platter or graniteware dripping pan, by cutting off fiank and a two-inch piece from the tail end. Pour over a cream sauce, and surround with six halves of potatoes of uniform size smoothly pared. Cook until the potatoes are soft, the time required being about 40 minutes, basting with the cream sauce three times during the cooking. Cream must enter into the composition of a real cream sauce. For the cream sauce for the finnan haddie, melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add two tablespoonfuls of fiour, and stir until well blended, then pour gradually, while stirring constantly, one cupful of milk and one-half cupful of cream. Bring to the boiling point, and season with a few grains of pepper. No salt will be needed, for it must be remenibeied that finnan haddie is salted. Finnan Haddie in Cream. — Cover a pound of the fish with cold water and let come to a simmer, drain, then cut into moderate-sized pieces. In the meantime prepare a cream sauce made by melting a tablespoonful of butter to which is added a tablespoonful of flour, a scant saltspoontul of salt, a dash of cayenne, two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice and one-half cupful each of milk and cream. Add the pieces of fish, lei the whole come to a boil and serve. _This creamed fish is also very nice if put in a baking dish, covered with bread crumbs, and browned in the oven. Browned Salt Mackerel. — Freshen two fish by soaking over night, wash in fresh water in the morning and squeeze over the flesh side the juice of one-half a lemon. Lay one of the fish skin side down in baking dish and cover with dressing made of one cupful bread crumbs, one tablespoonful butter (scant), pinch of pepper, a little grated lemon peel and one-fourth cupful of cream. Lay the other fish on dressing, skin side up, and baste well with hot water and melted butter. Put into a hot oven for 20 minutes, then cover with bread crumbs, dot with bits of butter and put back in the oven till nicely browned. Carefully dish without disturbing the layers and serve with thin lemon slices and parsley as a garnish. Oyster Chowder. — Fry together two ounces of salt pork and one onion, sliced. Parboil one pint of sliced potatoes five minutes and drain. Look over carefully one pint of oyslers, pour over one-half cupful of water and heat to the boiling point; skim out the oysters and pour the liquor over the potatoes, add the pork and onions and cook the potatoes until tender, adding a little more water if necessary; add the oysters, one pint of milk and one-half cupful of fine bread crumbs. Season with one teaspoonful of salt and half-teaspoonful of pepper and pour in the serving dish. Oyster Stew. — Put one quart of oysters in a colander, and pour over three-fourths of a cupful of cold water, reserving the liquor. Pick over the oysters, being careful that no particles of shells adhere to the tough muscles. Heat the reserved liquor to the boiling point, strain through a double thickness of cheese cloth, add the oysters, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the oysters are plump and the edges begin to curl. Remove the oyslers with a skimmer to a heated tureen, and add one-fourth of a cupful of butter, one-half tablespoonful of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper, the oyster liquor, strained a second time through a double thickness of cheese cloth, and four cupfuls of scalded milk.