This section is from the book "The Table: How To Buy Food, How to Cook It, and How to Serve It", by Alessandro Filippini. Also available from Amazon: The Table: How To Buy Food, How To Cook It And How To Serve It.
Cut off the fins, wash, and dry well with a towel, eighteen fine, fresh, medium-sized, Long Island smelts ; remove the eggs without splitting the stomachs open, then fill them with a fish force-meat (No. 227), using a paper cornet for the purpose. Lay the smelts on a well-buttered silver baking-dish (if possible), and cover them with a pint of sauce Italienne (No. 188). Put them in a hot oven and let bake for eight minutes ; remove them, squeeze the juice of a good lemon over, and lay the silver dish on top of another to avoid soiling the table-cloth; then serve.
 
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