Soyer's standard cookery

FISH No feature of the daily menu is so dainty and delicious as fish. Properly cooked it is at once a delight to the gourmet and a light, nourishing article of diet to the invalid. But nothing is so difficult to cook well — by the ordinary methods — as fish. Its delicate, elusive flavors are so easily lost and its light " flakiness " so easily destroyed. With the paper-bag all this is avoided. The delicate flavors cannot but be retained by a method which allows nothing to escape, and the fish will be found far superior in taste, appearance, and digestibility. Here, too, as with other articles, there is a saving of time, and the various seasonings can be used more economically and to better advantage. Cod Bourgeoise. Take two slices of cod, lay them in a well-buttered bag, season with salt and pepper. Place two mushrooms and two sliced tomatoes on the top of the fish, add a chopped shallot, dot over with butter, squeeze over with lemon juice, seal up, and cook for fifteen minutes in 300° Fahr. Stewed Eels. Cut up two eels in pieces two inches long. Add salt and pepper, chopped parsley, one teaspoonful of flour, a little sweet herbs (according to taste). Add a small chopped onion. Mix this well together. Put in the paper bag with two spoonfuls of milk, water, or stock (one of either according to taste). Seal up the bag and put on the grid. Leave twenty minutes in a moderate 'oven (300° Fahr.). Butter added to the above in the paper bag will make the dish richer. After twenty minutes, serve in the paper bag, or dish in the ordinary way. Fish Croquettes. Mix one pound of cooked fish of any variety with two large tablespoonfuls of white sauce, season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and a little chopped parsley. Form into croquettes, roll them in egg and breadcrumbs in the usual way, place them in a well-dressed paper bag, and cook for twenty minutes in a very hot oven (350° Fahr.). Salmon Croquettes. are made in the same way, but should be served with tartare sauce. Smoked Haddock. Trim a smoked haddock weighing about two pounds, season with cayenne pepper to taste, but do not use any salt. Pour two large tablespoonfuls of milk over the fish, and cover it with a little white sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, a few breadcrumbs, and enough oiled butter to moisten. Place the whole in a well-buttered paper bag, seal up, and cook for twenty minutes in a very hot oven (350° Fahr.). Stuffed Fresh Haddock. Chop a cooked onion and mix it with three tablespoonfuls of breadcrumbs. Add one ounce of butter, salt, and pepper to taste, a little chopped parsley, and one egg. When thoroughly mixed stuff the fish with the mixture, butter a paper bag, roll the fish in flour, place in the bag, dot over with small pieces of butter, seal up, and cook for twenty minutes in 300° Fahr. Haddock a la Royale. Take from four to six fillets of fresh haddock. Spread them with butter. Dip in seasoned flour, and then in grated cheese. Put into a well-greased bag, and add to them rather better than a gill of milk. Cook gently for from fifteen to twenty minutes (300° Fahr.), according to thickness of fillets. Dish up on a hot dish and serve. Haddock a la Princesse.