The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;. Bury Charlotte Campbell
the cod clean, and boil it in warm water, with vinegar, pepper, salt, a bay-leaf, and lemon. Make a sauce of burnt butter, fried flour, capers, and oysters. When you serve it up put in some black pepper and lemon-juice.
Cod’s Head, to boil
Take vinegar and salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and an onion; set them on the fire in a kettle of water; boil them and put in the head; and, while it is boiling, put in cold water and vinegar. When boiled, take it up, put it into a dish, and make sauce as follows: – Take gravy and claret, boiled with a bundle of sweet herbs and an onion, two or three anchovies, drawn with two pounds of butter, a pint of shrimps, oysters, the meat of a lobster shred fine. You may stick little toasts on the head, and lay on and about the roe, milt, and liver. Garnish the dish with fried parsley, lemon, barberries, horseradish, and fried fish.
Crab, to dress
Take all the body and the meat of the legs, and put them together in a dish to heat, with a little broth or gravy, just to make them moist. When hot, have ready some good broth or gravy, with an anchovy dissolved in it, and the juice of a small lemon, heated; afterwards thicken it up with butter, and stir it in the crab, as it is, hot: then serve all up in the shell.
Crab or Lobster, to butter
The crabs or lobsters being boiled and cold, take all the meat out of the shells and body; break the claws and take out the meat. Shred it small; add a spoonful or two of claret, a little vinegar, and a grated nutmeg. Let it boil up till it is thoroughly hot; then put in some melted butter, with anchovies and white gravy; thicken with the yolk of an egg or two, and when very hot put it into the large shell. Put crumbs of bread over it, and brown it with a salamander.
Crab, or Lobster, to stew. No. 1
A little cayenne, vinegar, butter, flour, and salt. Cover it with water and let it stew gently.
Crab, or Lobster, to stew. No. 2
When the lobsters are boiled, take out the tail and claws, and dip them in white wine; strew over them nutmeg, cloves, mace, salt, and pepper, mixed together. Then pour over them some melted butter with a little white wine in it; send them to the bakehouse, and let them stand in a slow oven about half an hour. Pour out the butter and wine, and pour on some fresh butter; when cold, cover them, and keep them in a cold place.
Crab, or Lobster, to stew. No. 3
Boil the lobsters; when cold take out all the meat; season it well with pepper, salt, nutmeg and mace pounded. Put it into an earthen pot with as much clarified butter as will cover it; bake it well. While warm, take it out of the pot, and let the butter drain from it. Break it as fine as you can with a spoon or knife; add more seasoning if required; put it as close as possible in the pot, and cover with clarified butter. The hen lobsters are best for this purpose, as the eggs impart a good colour. It may be pounded in a marble mortar, but, if baked enough, will do as well without it.
Crawfish, to make red
Rub the fish with aqua vitæ, which will produce the desired effect most completely.
Eels broiled whole
Skin, wash, and dry your eels, and score them with the knife, seasoning them with pepper, salt, thyme, parsley, and crumbs of bread, turning them round and skewering them across; you may either roast or broil them as you like best: the sauce to be melted butter with lemon juice.
Eels, to collar
Scour large silver eels with salt; slit them, and take out the back-bones; wash and dry them; season with shred parsley, sage, an onion, and thyme. Then roll each into collars, in a cloth; tie them close with the heads, bones, and a bundle of herbs, and boil them in salt and water. When tender, take them up, and again tie them close; drain the pickle, and put them into it.
Eels, to fry
Cut every eel into eight pieces; mix them with a proper quantity of yolks of eggs, and well season with pepper, and salt, and bread rubbed fine, with parsley and thyme; then flour them, and fry them. You may cook them as plain as you like, with only salt and flour, and serve them up with melted butter and fried parsley.
Eels, to pot
Into an earthen pan put Jamaica and common pepper, pounded fine, and salt; mix them and strew some at the bottom of the pan; cut your eels and lay them over it, and strew a little more seasoning over them. Then put in another layer of eels, repeating this process till all the eels are in. Lay a few bay leaves upon them, and pour as much vinegar as you may think requisite; cover the pan with brown paper and bake them. Pour off the liquor, cover them with clarified butter, and lay them by for use.
Eels, to pickle
Drain, wash, and well cleanse your eels, and cut off the heads. Cut them in lengths of four or five inches, with their skins on; stew in them some pepper and salt, and broil them on a gridiron a fine colour: then put them in layers in a jar, with bay-leaf, pepper, salt, a few slices of lemon, and a few cloves. Pour some good vinegar on them; tie strong paper over, and prick a few holes in it. It is better to boil the seasoning with some sweet herbs in the vinegar, and let it stand to be cold before it is put over the eels. Two yolks of eggs boiled hard should be put in the vinegar with a tea-spoonful of flour of mustard. Two yolks are sufficient for twelve pounds of eels.
Eels, to roast
Skin your eels; turn, scotch, and wash them with melted butter; skewer them crosswise; fix them on the spit, and put over them a little pepper, salt, parsley, and thyme; roast them quick. Fry some parsley, and lay it round the dish; make your sauce of butter and gravy.
Eels, to spitchcock
Leave the skin on the eels; scour them with salt; wash them; cut off their heads and slit them on the belly side; take out the bone and guts. Wash and wipe them well; cut them in pieces three inches long, and wipe them quite dry. Put two ounces of butter, with a little minced parsley, thyme, sage, pepper and salt, and a little chopped shalot, in a stewpan; when the butter is melted, stir the ingredients together, and take the pan off the fire; mix the yolks of two eggs with them and dip the eels in, a piece at a time; then roll them in bread crumbs, making as much stick on as you can. Rub the gridiron with a bit of suet; set it over a clear fire, and broil your eels of a fine crisp brown; dust them with crisp parsley. Sauce, anchovy and butter, or plain butter in a boat.
Another way
Wash your eels well in their skins with salt and water; dry and slit them; take out the back-bone, and slash them: season them with chopped parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Clean the inside with melted butter; cut them into pieces about three inches long and broil them; make the sauce with butter and orange juice.
Eels, to stew
Take five pounds of middling shafflings, cut off their heads, skin, and cut them in pieces as long as your finger. Wash them in several waters; dry them well with a cloth, lay them in a pan, sprinkle over them half an ounce of white salt, and let them lie an hour. Lay them in a stewpan, and add half a pint of French white wine, a quarter of a pint of water, two cloves beaten, a blade of mace, a large onion peeled, and the rind of a lemon; stew all these gently half an hour: then take the eels out of the liquor, skim off all the fat, and flour the eels all over; put to the liquor in which they were stewed an anchovy, washed and boned, and mix sorrel and parsley, half a handful of each, and half a pound of fresh butter. Let it just boil up; put in the eels; when they boil, lay them on sippets in your dish, and send them up hot to table.
Another way
Cover the fish close in a stewpan with a piece of butter as big as a walnut rolled in flour, and let it stew till done enough, which you will know by the eels being very tender. Take them up and lay them on a dish; strain your sauce, and give it a quick boil and pour it over the fish. Garnish with lemon.
Fish, to recover when tainted
When fish