Free Recipes

FISH BALLS

Cook the fish as in the Fish and Potatoe Recipe. Chop fine and mix with
hot mashed potato. Add a spoonful of butter and salt-pork fat, also a
little pepper. Knead together and make into balls. Dip them in beaten
egg and fry brown.

Boiling is the most wasteful way of cooking fish, and also the most insipid.
To make a boiled fish palatable, a rich sauce is needed for all kinds
except salmon and bluefish. Salmon is very much richer and more oily than
other fish, and for this reason it is not injured by boiling.

Salmon, bluefish, or a thick piece of halibut are preferable for boiling.
Cod and haddock, unless perfectly fresh, are very apt to break or fall
to pieces in boiling.

Six minutes should be allowed for each pound in boiling. A fish is properly
cooked when the flesh separates easily from the bones.

If the fish breaks when boiling, remove the bones at once, lay the fish
on a platter, and pour the sauce over it.

A very good way of boiling fish is to steep it for a few minutes in boiling
water which has been quite strongly salted, and to which has been added
two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice; then put it into fresh boiling water
without salt or lemon juice, and cook until done. This tends to prevent
the fish from breaking, and gives to the meat a fresh white look.

A large cod or any whole fish too large for a small family may be economically
used as follows : Remove the skin and bones from the thickest part; stuff
and bake. Use the bones and head for a chowder. Cut the tail end into
slices, salt well, and fry or broil them.

Cod, haddock, cusk, bluefish, salmon, bass, and shad may be stuffed and
baked whole.

Fish bake more evenly and brown better if placed upright in the pan instead
of on one side. If difficulty is found in keeping them in this position
they may be kept in place by propping with stale bread or pared potatoes.
If the fish is long and narrow it may be tied into the shape of the letter
S. To do this run a threaded trussing-needle through the head, middle
of the body, and tail; then draw the string tight, and fasten the ends.
Fish prepared in this manner will retain their shape after baking.

In frying pan fish, they should be thoroughly cleaned and dried, seasoned
with salt and pepper, and covered first with flour or fine bread crumbs,
then dipped in beaten egg, then in crumbs again. This should be repeated
until they are covered completely.

STUFFING FOR BAKED FISH

• 1 cup cracker crumbs
• 1 saltspoon salt
• 1 saltspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoonful capers
• 1 teaspoonful pickles
• J4 cup melted butter

This makes a dry, crumbly stuffing. If a moist stuffing is preferred,
use stale bread crumbs, and moisten with one beaten egg and the butter;
or moisten the crackers with warm water.