OCTOBER 65 



underneath the fish. Chop half an onion and three or 

 four washed anchovies, brown them in a little butter in 

 a small copper saucepan; pour this mixture all along 

 over the fish. Strew lightly with very dry breadcrumbs 

 grated from a brown roll or the crust of a loaf. Add in 

 the dish a few spoonfuls of good brown sauce, and baste 

 the fish in the oven till cooked. Serve in the fireproof 

 dish in which it was cooked. 



In Germany they still use fresh -water fish almost as 

 much as they do in France, and obviously for the same 

 reasons. A full account of these reasons is most excel- 

 lently given in Mrs. Roundell' s ' Practical Cookery 

 Book,' under the head of 'Pond Fish.' Sea fish in 

 England is so plentiful that I do not believe, in these 

 days of quick carriage, that fresh -water fish will ever 

 be again a matter of trade, though even this we cannot 

 say for certain. The fishmongers and fishermen are so 

 absolutely determined to ruin our fish supply by cover- 

 ing it with that injurious chemical, boracic acid, very 

 often before it leaves the coast, that I, for one, would 

 greatly prefer a freshly netted pond fish. Boracic acid 

 can be easily recognised, when the fish is cooked, by the 

 purple line that lies along the spine in soles, whiting, 

 haddock, plaice, etc. It is introduced under the gill, 

 and I fancy with experience one would soon recognise 

 it even before the fish is cooked. But the use of it is 

 now so universal, alas! that a young cook can hardly be 

 expected to know what fish looked like without it. I 

 cannot understand why people who possess large places 

 with rivers, lakes, ponds, game -keepers, and, in fact*, 

 every facility for having fresh -water fish, are yet con- 

 tent to do without so good a variety of food. 



One reason is that the cooks do not know how to 

 cook it properly, and the mistresses of the house do not 

 take the trouble to teach them. The Izaak Walton 



