56 FISH.
over the fire, and when it has boiled about five minutes try to pull out one of the fins; if it loosens easily from the body carefully take the fish out of the water, lay it on a platter, surround it with half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, and serve it with a sauce.
BOILED BLUEFISH. BOILED the same as BASS.
BAKED BLUEFISH. BAKED the same as BAKED SHAD see page 55.
FRIED EELS.
AFTER cleaning the eels well, cut them in pieces two inches long; wash them and wipe them dry; roll them in wheat flour or rolled cracker, and fry, as directed for other fish, in hot lard or beef drip- ping, salted. They should be browned all over and thoroughly done.
Eels are sometimes dipped in batter and then fried, or into egg and bread crumbs. Serve with crisped parsley.
SHEEPSHEAD WITH DRAWN BUTTER.
SELECT a medium-sized fish, clean it thoroughly, and rub a little salt over it; wrap it in a cloth and put it in a steamer; place this over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam one hour ; then lay it whole upon a hot side-dish, garnish with tufts of parsley and slices of lemon, and serve with drawn butter, prepared as follows : Take two ounces of butter and roll it into small balls, dredge these with flour ; put one-fourth of them in a saucepan, and as they begin to melt, whisk them ; add the remainder, one at a time, until thoroughly smooth ; while stirring, add a tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a tablespoon- f ul of chopped parsley ; pour into a hot sauce boat and serve.
BAKED WHITE FISH.
THOROUGHLY clean the fish ; cut off the head or not, as preferred ; cut out the backbone from the head to within two inches of the tail, and stun with the following : Soak stale bread in water, squeeze dry ; cut in pieces a large onion, fry in butter, chop fine ; add the bread, two ounces of butter, salt, pepper and a little parsley or sage; heat through, and when taken off the fire, add the yolks of two well-beaten
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