The thorough good cook

One pint of finely chopped cooked salt-fish, eight goodsized potatoes, three-fourths of a cupful of milk or cream, four eggs, salt, pepper, and two generous tablespoonfuls of butter. Pare the potatoes and boil thirty minutes. Drain the water from them, and mash very fine ; then mix thoroughly with the fish. Add the butter, seasoning, and milk or cream. Have two of the eggs well beaten, which stir into the mixture, and heap this in the dish in which it is to be served. Place in the oven for ten minutes. Beat the whites of the two remaining eggs to a stiff froth, and add a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt ; then put in the yolks. Spread this over the fish, return to the oven to brown, and serve. A good and cheap dish. Salt fish should not (for hygienic reasons) be eaten very often ; and the same, in degree, may be said of all salted meats, with the exception of fat bacon. But the use which we make at present of salt fish is simply ridiculous. We eat it with boiled parsnips and egg sauce on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday : and there an end ! 140. Mock Anchovies. To a peck of perfectly fresh sprats just taken out of the water, and neither washed nor wiped, allow the following quantity of ingredients, all to be finely pounded, and well mixed together: — Two pounds of common salt, a quarter of a pound of bay-salt, four ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of prunella salt, and a small portion of cochineal. Place alternately in a earthenware pan, till it be full, a layer of the sprats and a layer of the prepared mixture ; press the whole well down, and cover the pan closely. They will require to stand six months before they are used. 141. Kedgeree for Breakfast. Boil four tablespoonfuls of rice; add any fish previously cooked, and nicely picked; cliop up a hard egg, and stir it in just before serving. Add some butter, pepper and salt, and a touch of mace. If you -wish to vary your kedgeree, sprinkle with a little grated Parmesan, or a little curry powder. 142, Fried Smelts. These delicate little fish, when perfectly fresh, must not be washed, but wiped with a clean cloth, and dredged with flour, or brushed over with a feather, dipped into the yolk of a beaten egg ; they are then rolled in a plate of finely grated bread-crumbs, and fried in boiling dripping, or fresh lard. They vary in size, and some will be done sooner than others. When of a clear golden - brown, take them out carefully, and lay them before the fire upon the back of a sieve to drain and keep hot. Dish them, heads and tails alternately. Garnish with fried parsley. Sauce : Melted butter. They may also be broiled. 143. Broiled Sprats. Clean them well ; dredge them slightly with flour, and put them in rows upon small skewers run through the heads ; or they may be fried like herrings, and served hot. Sauce : Melted butter, with a spoonful each of catsup, soy, and lemon pickle. These are a vulgar dainty, and slightly too oleaginous ; but their flavour is delicious, and in winter they are amazingly cheap. 144. Baked Sprats.