METHODS OF COOKING PIKE. 37 



tail along one side of the backbone, when it and 

 the ribs can be easily removed, and the flesh left 



intact : if the vertebra is not removed, rub 



How to 



salt into it and hang the fish in the air cook 

 for some hours, i.e., to " wind-dry " it, plke 

 before cooking. After being thus treated, simply 

 boil it with a little salt in the water, serve with 

 plain melted butter or oyster sauce ; or baked 

 whole, with ordinary veal stuffing inside it, and 

 well baked, makes an excellent dish. Roasting 

 with strips of bacon tied round, and basting it until 

 it acquires a fine brown colour, is another satis- 

 factory and easy way to cook a 4 or 5 Ib. fish. If 

 a pike is boiled and allowed to get cold, it can be 

 taken from the bones in flakes, which when fried 

 in fresh butter or olive oil, with pepper and salt 

 added, and dredged with flour, will be found 

 toothsome Or place the flakes in a deep dish 

 with the liquor from the fish (which cold is like 

 stiff jelly), a few pieces of butter, and a dessert- 

 spoonful of anchovy sauce, a teaspoon ful of soy, 

 or Worcestershire sauce, a squeeze of lemon, a 

 little pepper and salt and some chopped parsley ; 

 then cover with pastry-crust, or mashed potatoes, 

 and bake until browned ; a few oysters added 

 improves it. 



A pike (of 4 or 5 Ibs.) cut across in fillets an inch 

 thick or in longitudinal slices, and the bones with- 

 drawn, dredged in flour and fried in boiling oil or 

 butter, thoroughly browned, and served hot, is very 

 palatable ; yet another method is to split a small 

 jack lengthways, remove the head, fins, and bones, 

 and simmer it slowly in a dish with butter and a 

 bunch of savoury herbs. 



The late Mrs. Beeton, in her Dictionary of Cookery, 



