How to Broil Fish.
Broiling is probably the simplest as well as the best method of cooking many kinds of fish, the flavor and juices being better preserved. Salt pork is the best thing to use. The double broiler is the best utensil, though they may be cooked on a grid dle or a spider. Heat and butter well before laying in the fish, the flesh side first; when that is perfectly browned, turn and finish cooking. Serve on a hot platter, spread with butter or cream or both, and season to taste. A fish may be broiled in a dripping pan, and if the oven is hot it will cook nicely. Baste once or twice with butter or cream while cooking.
How to Boil Fish.
Boiling is the most insipid way of cooking fish, yet there are certain va rieties that are better cooked this way if accompanied by a rich sauce. Fish, if boiled in a common kettle, should first be wrapped in cheese cloth, to preserve its shape. The head is the best part of a boiled fish, and the nearer the head the better the por tions. Boiled fish should be served on a napkin and the sauce in a tu reen. A fish of 6 pounds should boil or steam in thirty or thirty-five min utes. The water should always be salted. A boiled fish may be stuffed if desired.
How to Bake Fish.
A baked fish presents a more at tractive appearance when served in an upright position on the platter; it also cooks better. To keep it up right, press it down enough to flatten the under side, then, if necessary, brace with skewers or potatoes placed against it until it is well under way for cooking, then it will keep its posi tion until cooked and dished. Some times it is advisable to bend the fish half-moon shape and cook it that way, or if the fish is long and slender, the tail may be tied to the moutb, either of which methods will keep the fish in upright position.
How to Fry Fish.
Small fish may be broiled, but in nearly every case they are better sauted or fried. There are tiny fish, smelts for instance, which cannot be treated in any other way. Lard may be used as a frying material; a mix ture of suet and lard is better, but best of all, if it can be afforded, is a clear frying oil, which leaves no greasy taste. To prepare a fish for frying, such as perch, brook trout, catfish, smelts, or tiny mackerel, wash in cold water, clean thoroughly, and wipe dry inside and out. Small
fish must be gently handled; they are tender and the flesh bruises easily. Roll them in flour, then in beaten egg, to which a tablespoonful water has been added, and roll again in finely sifted bread crumbs. Have the oil boiling hot, put 4 fish at a time into the frying basket, and cook five or seven minutes. Do not allow them to get dark brown. Drop on absorb ent paper and drain off as much of the fat as possible. Lay on a folded napkin on a hot platter, garnish with parsley and points of lemon. When smelts are very tiny, run a skewer through the heads of three or four of them and fry in bunches. Fish which is sliced, then cut in fillets, can be cooked in the same fashion. The easiest way to prepare it is to roll each fillet and fasten with a tooth pick.
Baked Red Snapper.
1 5-pound red snapper, 1 beaten egg, cupful powdered crackers, 1 cupful oysters, 1 teaspoonful onion juice, 1 tablespoonful butter, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1; teaspoonful paprika, 1 tablespoonful minced parsley.
Draw, clean, and wipe the fish; rub inside and out with salad oil and lem on. Make a stuffing of egg, cracker, oysters (drained and chopped), onion juice, butter, salt, paprika, and par sley; moisten with cream and oyster liquor. Fill the fish and sew it up. Put a layer of minced fat pork on the covered roaster, lay a few slices of to mato and onion on the pork, then the fish on this. Dredge with salt and flour, and put on more minced pork.
Place in a hot oven, add a cupful boiling water, and cover. Baste fre quently. Bake one hour. Serve with Sauce Hollandaise.
Baked Fresh Cod with Cheese Sauce.
Lay a slice of cod in salt and water for half an hour; wipe dry and rub with melted butter and lemon juice. In the bottom of the baking pan, under the grating and not touching the fish, have a cupful veal stock. Pepper and salt the fish, cover and bake ten minutes to the pound. Take up on a hot platter and sift fine crumbs over it.- Put dots of butter on these. Set in the oven to brown while you strain the gravy from the pan, thicken with browned flour, add the juice of lemon, 4 tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, and a little onion juice. Boil one minute, pour a few spoonfuls carefully over the crumb crust of the fish, the rest into a boat. —Maalox HARLAND.