Before the fire; juices not to evaporate, serving for basting and for sauce.

Nutriment not wasted;

Applicability of process to many kinds.

Baking, with care, gives good results.

Boiling fish, a wasteful process.

Boiling causes much Loss.

To return to the utilization of the commoner kinds of fish, and of fish trimmings or cuttings, in the composition of stock. From such materials may be made a soup, or better still, a stew of fish, in very savoury and nutritious form, for the economical purchaser; or a delicate and attractive dish may be presented for. an experienced palate. I may offer as an example of the former a receipt from Gouffe, for making a good consomme"of fish only, without any meat, and therefore a soup maigre.

Put into a large frying-pan, with about three-quarters of a pound of butter, five large carrots, four onions, three heads of celery, four shalots; all the foregoing to be cut in slices. One head of garlic (better omitted here), three cloves, two bay leaves, one sprig of thyme, twelve sprigs of parsley. Lightly fry them till they acquire a reddish colour. Add a bottle of dry Sauterne, and eight pints of water; boil, skim, and then add one ounce and a half of salt, and two pinches of mignonette pepper. Put in a stewpan six or seven pounds of gurnets cut into pieces; next add the bones of six whiting, keeping the fillets for clarifying. Let it simmer for two hours on the side of the fire. When it is finished, strain through a cloth. Pound the fillets of whiting with two whites of eggs; clarify the consomme of fish with the whites of egg and fillets of whiting. The vegetables must be sufficiently fried to give the consommi a light tint {Op. cit., p. 348).

Steaming preferable.

Fish soups, etc.

A French receipt.

The next, a simpler receipt, can be recommended, after numerous trials, as an excellent family fish soup. Put three ounces of butter into a stewpan; add two carrots sliced; one onion and a shalot, in thin slices; then cloves, a little thyme, and some parsley. Fry them gently until of a reddish tint; then add three or four pints of cold water. Let it boil, skimming occasionally. Then add a small fresh haddock, bones and all, cut up into pieces, and the head and bones of three whitings, setting aside the fillets. A cod's head, or that of a turbot, or the fresh bones, head, and fins of two large soles, the fillets of which are required for another dish, may take the place of the foregoing, or be cut in pieces and added thereto, according to the quantity required. Add some salt and a little pepper. Let all simmer together for two hours gently, at the corner of the fire; take out the bones and pass all the rest through a coarse strainer. Divide the fillets of whiting into two or three small portions each, boil for a few minutes in some of the stock, add a little fresh green chervil and parsley chopped, not too finely, and serve all together in a tureen.

An English receipt Fish soup.

If the soup is preferred somewhat thicker in body than this receipt produces, let it be made so by adding some farinaceous matter in small quantity, as creme du riz, or, if preferred, a table - spoonful of white roux (that is, a little flour well mixed with butter in a stewpan over the fire, cooked, but not allowed to brown); either addition is undoubtedly an improvement.

It is, in my opinion, undesirable to clarify fish soups; if other garnish is desired, quenelles of whiting may be substituted for the fillets; and some of them may have a little coral (spawn of the lobster) added to furnish flavour and colour. A further change may be made by adding fillets of other fish, or a few shell-fish, and a few small balls of seasoning, similar to that used for veal and poultry.

To make a bouillabaisse in the Marseillaise fashion,* take three or four pounds of fish, whiting, sole, small haddock, red mullet, and, following the instructions given strictly throughout, a very small conger eel or a portion of one. All these are to be cleaned, cut in slices, and their bones removed; two dozen of mussels to be added. The receipt in question is as follows: * Referred to at p. 146.

To thicken it.

To garnish it.

Marseilles receipt for bouillabaisse.

Put into a stewpan two onions sliced, two tomatoes peeled, a carrot sliced; then, in a coarse net bag, the following: two bay leaves, two slices of lemon, half the zest of a Seville orange, two cloves, a little thyme, several sprigs of parsley, a clove of garlic, two red capsicums cut, and a little saffron; add salt and pepper, and a little pimento. Place the pieces of fish over these, pour in six tablespoonfuls of olive oil; add three pints of water, with two or three glasses of white French wine; cover, and let all boil well together for half an hour. The whiting, however, should be put in only a quarter of an hour before finishing. Serve the whole in a soup tureen with slices of toasted bread apart; or place them in the tureen before filling.

The following receipt is offered for an economical dish, or fish stew, suitable for a working man's family: Take three or four pounds of hake, ling, skate, or haddock, and a pound of "cuttings or trimmings," which are the best part of the fish for stock making. Remove all the fish from the bones, break up or pound the latter, and set aside with any portion of head there may be, and the cuttings. Put into a saucepan, over the fire, two ounces of lard and two or three onions sliced, and let them fry until brown; then add two quarts of water and all the pounded bones and trimmings, some parsley or other green herbs, pepper and salt. Let the whole simmer for three hours, adding the amount of water lost by evaporation. Strain out the bones, bits of skin, etc., add the fish in pieces, and boil gently ten or fifteen minutes. Thicken with sufficient flour mixed smoothly with a small portion of stock, and added before finishing. In order to make the dish complete and substantial, a few small suet dumplings should be well boiled and put into the tureen.

Working man's fish stew.

Stews of Fish.