Soyer's standard cookery

Shell one and a half dozen good-sized shrimps, chop them coarsely and fry with half an ounce of butter and an ounce of minced ham. Add at once a cupful of boiling white stock and the juice of a lemon, flavoring with pepper and salt and a little minced parsley. Pour the whole over some squares of hot toast on a dish and serve at once. Eels, Fried. Cut your eels into pieces three inches long, dip the pieces into flour, egg over with a paste-brush, and throw them into some bread-crumbs; fry in hot lard as directed for fried soles. Stewed Eels, Sauce Matelote. Procure as large eels as possible, which cut into pieces three inches long, and put them into a stewpan, with an onion, a bouquet of two bay leaves, a sprig of thyme and parsley, six cloves, a blade of mace, a glass of sherry, and two of water; place the stewpan over a moderate fire, and let simmer about twenty minutes, or according to the size of the eels; when done, drain upon a cloth, dress them in pyramid upon a dish without a napkin, with a matelote sauce over, made as directed on page 99, but using the stock your eels have been cooked in to make the sauce, having previously well boiled it to extract all the fat. Eels a la Tartare. Fry as directed above, and serve on some tartare sauce; or partly stew first, and, when cold, egg, bread-crumb, and broil gently. Spitchcocked Eels in some parts of England, are cooked with the skins on. They should be properly cleaned, and split down the back, and bone taken out, and cut into pieces of about four inches long; egg the inside, and throw over some bread-crumbs, in which have been mixed some chopped parsley, a little dried thyme, and some cayenne; place them in the oven, and whilst cooking baste them with butter in which some essence of anchovies has been mixed. The time they take cooking depends on the size, but may be known by the skin turning up. Conger Eel is little appreciated in this country, although amongst the working-class of our neighbors, more particularly the French, it is an article of great consumption. If alive, its head should be cut off, and it should bleed as much as possible; but if dead, the pieces should be put into lukewarm water to disgorge previous to being cooked. The young fry are exceedingly good, and may be dressed like fresh-water eels. The large ones may be made into soup, and can also be cooked like sturgeon. Eels on the Spit. Take a very large eel, cut it into short pieces, and lard them on the back with thin strips of bacon. Place the pieces of eel for three hours in pickle made of oil, sliced onion, sprigs of parsley, salt, and bay leaves. On taking them out place the pieces on a long wooden skewer, separating them by thin slices of bread. Fasten the skewer to a spit and cook before the fire, basting from time to time with melted butter. With this dish should be served a sauce made in the following manner: — Mix together in a small enameled saucepan some vinegar, shallots, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, and a pinch of pepper. Let them soak for a short time, and then add some strong beef stock thickened with a little flour. Mix well and let it boil for a quarter of an hour. Pass the sauce through a fine strainer and serve in a sauce-boat. Flounders, Water Souchet. Procure four or six Thames flounders, trim and cut in halves ;