How to Cook Fish Part 16

EELS a LA VILLEROY

Clean two large eels and cut into lengths. Cover with salted and acidulated water, add a bunch of parsley, a sliced onion, and a pinch of powdered sweet herbs. Boil slowly for ten minutes, cool, and drain. Melt one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and cook in it two [Page 117]

tablespoonfuls of flour. Add two cupfuls of white stock and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Take from the fire and season to taste. Add the yolks of four eggs well beaten and cool. Dip the pieces of eel in this sauce, and set on ice. Roll in cracker crumbs, dip in beaten egg, then in bread-crumbs, and fry brown in deep fat.

EELS a LA TARTAR

Cut up the eel and cook in court bouillon with wine. Drain, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Serve with a stiff Mayonnaise mixed with chopped parsley, olives, pickles, and capers.

EELS a L'INDIENNE

Chop fine an onion, half a carrot, and a stalk of celery. Fry in b.u.t.ter, dredge with flour, and cook thoroughly. Add enough stock to make the required quant.i.ty of sauce, and cook until thick, stirring constantly, Season with mace, thyme, a bay-leaf, minced parsley, and curry powder. Strain through a sieve and pour over eels stewed in wine and seasoned with vegetables according to directions previously given. Serve with a border of boiled rice sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese.

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EELS a LA NORMANDY

Fry in b.u.t.ter a pound and a half of prepared eels. Add a winegla.s.sful of white wine or cider, a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup, and salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg to season. Simmer for ten minutes, add one cupful of white stock, half a dozen mushrooms, a dozen oysters, and half a dozen shrimps. When cooked take from the fire, add the yolks of two eggs well beaten, and serve at once.

STUFFED EELS a L'ITALIENNE

Skin the eel but keep the head on. Remove the back-bone and stuff with seasoned crumbs, mixed with minced parsley and mushrooms.

Skewer in the form of a circle; put into a saucepan with two ounces of b.u.t.ter, a small bunch of parsley, a chopped onion, two cupfuls of white wine, and salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg to season. Bake for an hour, basting as required. Drain, take out the parsley, and add to the sauce two cupfuls of brown stock, and one cupful of chopped mushrooms. Boil for five minutes and thicken with browned flour cooked in b.u.t.ter. Season with minced parsley and lemon-juice, pour the sauce around the eel, and serve.

EELS a LA LONDON

Fry four chopped onions in b.u.t.ter, dredge [Page 119]

with flour, and cook thoroughly. Add two cupfuls of stock, half a cupful of Port wine, two bay-leaves, and salt and pepper to season.

Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add one large cleaned eel, cut into two-inch lengths, cover, and cook for fifteen minutes.

Serve on toast.

EELS a LA REINE

Prepare and cut up the eels. Fry in b.u.t.ter with half a can of mushrooms, and dredge with flour. Add one cupful of stock and half a cupful of white wine. Bring to the boil, season with salt, pepper, and a chopped onion, and cook until the eel is tender. Skim, take from the fire, and add the juice of half a lemon, beaten smooth with the yolks of two eggs.

EELS a LA POULETTE

Stew the eels in white wine with carrot, onion, parsley, bay-leaf, thyme, pepper-corns, and salt to season. Drain and serve with Poulette Sauce.

FRICa.s.seE OF EEL

Prepare the eel according to directions previously given, cook in equal parts of white wine and water, seasoning with mace, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, sweet herbs, allspice, and salt.

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Boil until the eels are tender, then skim out. Add a little anchovy paste to the sauce, with a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, bring to the boil, take from the fire, add the yolks of two eggs well beaten, pour over the fish, and serve.

FRICa.s.seED EELS

Skin, clean, and cut up. Cover with cold water, add salt, and minced parsley to season, cover, and cook slowly for an hour. Thicken with a tablespoonful each of b.u.t.ter and flour blended together and made smooth with cold water. Season highly with pepper, and serve.

STEWED EELS WITH CUc.u.mBERS

Clean and skin two eels, cut into pieces and soak in cold water for an hour. Drain, cover with wine and water, seasoning with salt, pepper, onion, and parsley, and simmer for fifteen minutes. Take out the fish and add three sliced and parboiled cuc.u.mbers. Strain the sauce, thicken with flour cooked in b.u.t.ter, and boil for ten minutes. Skim, add the yolks of four eggs well beaten and take from the fire. Season with red pepper and lemon-juice, strain over the fish, and serve.

STEWED EELS--I

Put into a saucepan three fourths of a cupful [Page 121]

of b.u.t.ter and fry in it four small chopped onions. Add a tablespoonful of flour, cook through, and add two cupfuls of boiling water or stock.

Cook until thick, stirring constantly, then put in one large cleaned eel cut into inch pieces; cover and cook for fifteen minutes.

STEWED EELS--II

Wash and skin a pint of eels, cut them in pieces three inches long, pepper and salt them, and put them into a stewpan. Pour in one pint of good soup stock, adding one large onion, shredded, three cloves, a teaspoonful of grated lemon-peel, and a winegla.s.sful of Port wine. Stew slowly for half an hour, and pour into a hot dish. Strain the liquor and add a winegla.s.sful of cream thickened with flour, and boil up once. Pour over the eels and serve.

STEWED EELS--III

Clean, skin, and joint the eels. Cover with boiling water, add a tablespoonful of vinegar, and cook for ten minutes. Drain, cook together one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and two of flour. Add two cupfuls of the water in which the eels were cooked. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Season with salt, pepper, and grated onion, then add the eels and [Page 122]

reheat. Simmer for twenty minutes, add a tablespoonful of minced parsley, and serve.

STEWED EELS--IV

Prepare according to directions given above, using veal or fish stock, instead of water, and adding a bay-leaf to the seasoning.

STEWED EELS a L'ANGLAISE

Cook prepared eels in half a bottle of Port wine, seasoned with carrot, onion, parsley, bay-leaf, thyme, salt, pepper-corns, cloves, mace, and chopped mushrooms. Cover with b.u.t.tered paper, simmer for half an hour and drain. Melt two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and cook in it two tablespoonfuls of flour. Add a chopped shallot and enough of the eel liquor to make the required quant.i.ty of sauce.

Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add half a cupful of stock, and two winegla.s.sfuls of Port wine. Bring to the boil, strain, add a few chopped mushrooms, a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and minced parsley, lemon-juice, and anchovy paste to season. Pour the sauce over the eels, and serve.

STEWED EELS a L'AMERICAINE

Use three pounds of cleaned and skinned eel with all the fat removed.

Cut in two-inch pieces, season with pepper and salt and chopped [Page 123]

onion, and put in a double-boiler with half a cupful of b.u.t.ter.

Sprinkle with parsley, cover tightly, and cook for about an hour and a half. Serve in a deep dish.

STEWED EELS a LA POULETTE

Cut cleaned eels into two-inch pieces and cook until tender in stock. Thicken with b.u.t.ter and flour cooked together, add half a dozen chopped mushrooms, and salt, pepper, grated onion, and minced parsley to season. Boil for twenty minutes, add the juice of a lemon, and serve.

STEWED EELS a LA CANOTIERE

Fry a chopped onion in b.u.t.ter, add a pound of rice and cook brown.

Add four cupfuls of fish stock, seasoning with red and white pepper, caver, and cook for twenty minutes. Take from the fire, add half a cupful each of b.u.t.ter and Tomato Sauce. Prepare the eels according to directions given for Eels a la Lyonnaise, adding a tablespoonful of anchovy essence to the sauce. Serve with a border of the rice.

STEWED EELS a LA GENEVOISE

Prepare two eels, cut into four-inch lengths.

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Put into a saucepan with a sliced carrot, an onion, a bunch of parsley, two cloves of garlic, and salt and pepper-corns to season.

Put in enough cider to cover the fish, and simmer for fifteen minutes.

Take up the fish, strain the sauce, and thicken it with two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter. Add two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter to the sauce, reheat, pour over the eels, and garnish with small onions fried brown in b.u.t.ter and sugar.