521.—KEDGEREE.
Ingredients.—Any cold fish (dried haddock is generally preferred); to 1 lb. of fish allow ¼ of a lb. of rice, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 ozs. of butter, salt and pepper, cayenne.
Method.—Boil and dry the rice, divide the fish into small flakes, cut the whites of the eggs into slices, and rub the yolks through a wire sieve. Melt the butter in a stewpan, add to it the fish, rice, whites of eggs, salt, pepper and cayenne, and stir the ingredients over the fire until hot. Turn the mixture on to a hot dish, press it into a pyramidical form with a fork, decorate with the yolk of egg, and serve as hot as possible.
Time.—From 40 to 50 minutes. Average Cost, 10d. to 1s. 2d. Allow 1 lb. fish for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.
522.—LAMPREY, BAKED. (Fr.—Lamproie au Four.)
Ingredients.—1 medium-sized lamprey, suet farce, No. 407, 1 egg, breadcrumbs, fat for basting, anchovy sauce or any other fish sauce preferred, 1 lemon.
Method.—Rub the fish well with salt, wash it in warm water, and remove the cartilage and strings which run down the back. Fill the body with the prepared farce, sew it up securely, and fasten round 2 or 3 thicknesses of buttered or greased paper. Cover the fish with hot water, boil gently for 20 minutes, then drain and dry well. Put it into a baking-dish, in which a little butter or fat has been previously melted, and baste well. Bake gently for about ½ an hour, basting frequently, then strip off the skin, brush the fish over with beaten egg, and coat it lightly with breadcrumbs. Bake the fish for about 20 minutes longer, or until nicely-browned, then serve it garnished with sliced lemon, and send the sauce to table in a tureen.
Time.—About 1¼ hours. Average Cost, uncertain. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable at any time.
The Lamprey (Fr. lamproie) is an eel-like, scaleless fish, with gills in the form of a series of pouches on the side of the neck. Its mouth is circular, resembling a sucker, lined with a number of horny processes or teeth; it has no pectoral or ventral fins, but a median dorsal fin is continued backward to form a tail-fin. By its sucker-like mouth the lamprey attaches itself to its prey, from which it sucks the blood, respiration being carried on by the gills at the side of its neck. The lamprey was esteemed by the Romans, and during the Middle Ages it was regarded as a delicacy. Henry I. of England is said to have died from the effects of too free an indulgence in his favourite dish.
523.—LAMPREY, STEWED. (Fr.—Ragoût de Lamproie.)
Ingredients.—1 medium-sized lamprey, ¾ of a pint of stock or water, 1 glass of port or sherry, 1 oz. of butter, 1 oz. of flour, 1 lemon sliced, 1 teaspoonful of lemon-juice, 2 small onions sliced, 2 or 3 mushrooms or 6 button mushrooms, 1 bay-leaf, salt and pepper.
