The Toronto Cook Book

Scald cup of rich milk in double boiler, add one tablespoon of butter and two of flour, rubbed smoothly together, and stir until thick; season to taste and add beaten yolks of two eggs; add pint cold chopped chicken or turkey and set away until cold; flour the hands and mould, dipping each croquette in slightly beaten egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry in smoking hot lard. Baked Croquettes One pound of round steak, one pint sweet milk, one cup flour, one egg, salt and pepper. Chop steak; beat egg very light, then add milk and pour on the flour gradually, beating smooth; butter a two-quart dish, put the meat in dish and season well, and over it pour the batter; bake an hour in a moderate oven. Serve hot. Chicken Croquettes Eight pounds chicken chopped fine, one pint milk heated in a double boiler with a piece of butter the size of a large egg; add three tablespoons of flour. When thick mix the cayenne pepper; mix well with the beaten eggs; roll out and dip first in beaten egg, then in chopped crackers, and then fry. Queen City Croquettes Take one cup cold cooked chicken; season with a little salt, celery salt and a dish of cayenne, half a teaspoon lernon juice, half of onion juice, one cup of cream; blend all together and roll in soda biscuit crumbs and fry in boiling lard. Salmon Croquettes Put three tablespoons butter in sauce-pan, melt, add onethird cup flour and blend thoroughly, gradually pouring on one cup scalded milk; mix slowly and thoroughly; now add half a spoon salt and a dash of pepper, also a little cayenne. Take three-quarters of a cup of cream, adding one cup of cooked salmon, half a teaspoon of lemon juice, and whip all together smooth; when cool, dip in egg crumbs and fry in hot fat. FISH AND FISH SAUCES Remarks on Fish Fresh fish are best when just taken from the water. They are fresh when the eyes are clear, the fins stiff, the gills red, and hard to open. Unless fish have been frozen or have inhabited muddy streams they should not be soaked. If frozen, soak them in ice-cold water to thaw. If they have inhabited muddy streams, after they have been cut up soak them in strong salt water. A fish or part of a fish of less than three pounds' weight except rockfish is too small for boiling. Exact time for boiling fish cannot be given, as much depends upon the size and kind. A piece of fresh cod weighing three pounds will cook in from eighteen to twenty minutes. Salmon should be allowed a longer time, while six or seven minutes per pound will be enough for sheepshead, rockfish, etc. Mackerel need from ten to twelve minutes; herring and many other kinds of fish scarcely half so long. As a general rule fish with white flesh require less time for boiling than fish with dark flesh. It requires experience to know exactly how long to boil a fish, although it is claimed that by putting salt and vinegar into the water six minutes to the pound is enough for all kinds of fish, thick or thin. Care must be taken that the fish is not underdone, but if boiled too much or allowed to remain too long in the water it will be insipid. The fish is done when the meat separates easily from the backbone. Test with a fork. To Prepare Fish