The Myrtle Reed Cook Book. Reed Myrtle
CODFISH BALLS
Cut into inch pieces a heaping cupful of salt codfish. Remove the bones, skin, and put into an earthen dish. Pour boiling water on and keep hot two hours. Pour off the water, cool, and shred the fish with the fingers. Add a heaping cupful of hot mashed potatoes. Mix a teaspoonful of flour with a heaping tablespoonful of butter, add three tablespoonfuls of boiling water, and cook until thick. Season with salt and pepper, mix with the fish and potato, and with floured hands form into eight small flat cakes. Dredge with flour and set away to be fried the following morning.
CODFISH BALLS—II
Two cupfuls of freshened and shredded fish, two cupfuls of sliced raw potatoes, one tablespoonful of butter, half a cupful of cream or milk, two eggs, and a sprinkle of white pepper. Put the potatoes in a pan, spread the fish on top, cover with cold water, and boil until the potatoes are done. Drain, mash together, then add the butter, pepper, milk, and beaten egg. Beat until very light. Shape into round balls the size of small apples, dredge in flour, and fry until brown in deep fat.
CODFISH BALLS—III
Prepare as Codfish Balls II, but use twice as much potato as fish.
CODFISH BALLS À LA BURNS
Make codfish balls into flat cakes and just before serving, put a poached egg on each.
PICKED-UP CODFISH
Pour boiling water on a cupful of salt codfish which has been shredded and had the bones removed. When the water cools, pour it off and cover with fresh boiling water. Drain again when the second water cools. Blend a tablespoonful of butter with a tablespoonful of flour, add a cupful of milk, and cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Add the codfish and a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley. Serve on toast and garnish with hard-boiled egg cut in slices. Sprinkle with black pepper.
CREAMED CODFISH
Two cupfuls of shredded codfish, three cupfuls of milk, yolk of one egg, one tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoonfuls of flour, two quarts of water, pepper, and salt. Cover the fish with the water and set it over a slow fire. When it boils, drain it and cover with the milk. Bring to a boil again. Have the butter and flour rubbed smooth with a little cold milk and add to the boiling milk. Stir steadily till it thickens, then add the beaten yolk of the egg, and cook five minutes longer. Season with pepper. A little minced parsley may be added. Half an hour before the fish is shredded it should be put to soak in cold water, unless it is preferred very salt.
CREAMED ROAST CODFISH
Brush the salt from a whole salted cod with a stiff brush. Place in a baking-pan and put in a hot oven until brown and crisp. Take out, lay on a board, and pound with a potato-masher till thoroughly bruised and broken. Place in the baking-pan, cover with boiling water, and soak twenty minutes. Drain, place on a platter, dot with butter, and put back into the oven till the butter sizzles. Take from the oven, pour over a cupful of cream, garnish with parsley, and serve.
CODFISH À LA MODE
Pick up a cupful of salt cod very fine, and freshen it. Mix with two cupfuls of mashed potato, two cupfuls of cream or milk, and two well-beaten eggs. Add half a cupful of melted butter and a little black pepper. Mix thoroughly, pile roughly in an earthen baking-dish or casserole, and bake twenty-five minutes in a hot oven. If it does not brown readily, brush the top with melted butter for the last five minutes of cooking.
NEW ENGLAND SALT COD
Cut the fish in squares and soak over night. In the morning drain and rinse, cover with fresh boiling water, and simmer till tender. Spread on a platter and put in the oven. Make a drawn-butter sauce of one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour cooked till the mixture leaves the pan. Add one cupful of cold water, and stir constantly till the sauce is thick and smooth and free from lumps. Pour over the cod and serve. Minced parsley, a squeeze of lemon-juice, or a hard-boiled egg chopped fine may be added to the sauce.
BOILED SALTED COD WITH EGG SAUCE
Chop fine a pound of salted cod that has been freshened, boiled, and cooled. Mix a heaping teaspoonful of corn-meal with one cupful of milk, and stir over the fire until it thickens, then add one cupful of mashed potatoes, two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter, a teaspoonful of minced parsley, and two well-beaten eggs. Let it get very hot. Make the drawn-butter sauce with the egg in it, given in the recipe for New England Salt Cod, and serve with the sauce poured over.
SALTED COD WITH BROWN BUTTER
Freshen the fish for twenty-four hours. Place over the fire in cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Put a little butter and a few sprigs of parsley in a frying-pan. Skim out the fish and put on a platter in the oven. When the butter is brown, pour over the fish and serve with lemon-quarters and fresh parsley.
CODFISH CUTLETS
Use the mixture for Codfish Balls II. Shape into cutlet form,—small tin moulds come for the purpose,—dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Stick a piece of macaroni in the small end of the cutlet, and garnish with a paper frill. Serve with lemon and parsley.
BOILED SALT CODFISH
Select a piece of cod that has been boned. Brush the salt from it with a stiff brush and broil under the gas flame until brown. Lay in a baking-pan and pour over boiling water to cover. Let stand ten minutes, drain, and repeat the process. Drain, put on a hot platter, pour over melted butter, sprinkle with pepper and minced parsley.
FLAKED SALT CODFISH
Soak two pounds of fish over night. In the morning scrub it well, cover with slices of onion, pour boiling water over, and let it soak till the water is cool. Skim out, wipe, and broil. Put into a platter, break with a fork, and pour over a drawn-butter sauce seasoned with pepper, parsley, and lemon-juice. Keep in a hot oven five minutes before serving.
CODFISH PUFF
Make the mixture for Codfish Balls II. Add the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth, folding them in lightly. Butter a stoneware platter, spread the puff upon it, and bake in a hot oven till well puffed and browned. Or, cook in a buttered frying-pan till a brown crust has formed, then fold like an omelet.
CREAMED COD WITH EGG SAUCE
Freshen, boil, and drain, according to directions previously given. Arrange on a platter and cover with cream sauce, which has minced parsley and chopped hard-boiled eggs mixed with it.
ESCALLOPED CODFISH
Make a Codfish Puff, sprinkle with grated cheese, and bake brown.
FINNAN HADDIE À LA DELMONICO
Make a cream sauce, using two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour; cook till they bubble, add a pint of milk, and stir till thick and smooth. Add a pound of Finnan Haddie flaked, and the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, three hard-boiled eggs cut fine, and a tablespoonful of strong cheese, grated. Season with black pepper, heat thoroughly, and serve.
FINNAN