November 2, 1891..I 
THE TROPICM. AQWIOm.TDm8T. 
307 
some garlic, onions, green ginger, and salt should 
be pounded and mixed with the flour of gram or 
dhal; to this tyre and turmeric should be added, and 
when sufficiently moist applied to the fish which 
should then be fried in ghee! Surely this elaborate 
preparation would disguise any fish completely. If you 
want to Orientalise fish for a change, curry it, or serve 
It as mole- Filleting fresh-w'ater fish is generally 
a wise proceeding. The Native cook performs the 
operation well, and yon are thus protected as much 
as possible from swallowing bones, and the unpleasant- 
uess of catching one in your throat. Ail the trimmings 
which are left after this process lias been carried 
out come in usefully for the stock required for the 
pie, stew, or sauce, as the case may be. 
The Indian mtm'al (Tam. Verar/) may be likened 
to the_ IUngUsh jack, and be cooked in like manner, 
^et him be carefully killed, and cleaned as herein- 
before advised. IJo not boil bim if you can avoid it. 
If under two pounds in weight bake him, if bigger 
than that roo.il him on the spit. In either case ho 
must be stuffed, pike-liko, and this preparation can of 
course be varied at pleasure. Experience seems to 
show that ordinary' fish derive in cooking the great- 
est assistance from the essences of .«*rff-fish. Thus 
oysters, shrimps, prawns, lobster, crayfish, A'c., arc most 
valuable in sauces and stuffings. Out in a ‘Hanky " 
district you often can procure quantities of little fresh- 
water shrimps and cray'-fish. With these well cleaned 
you can compose a very tasty stuffing, using broad 
crumb, eggs, the minced shrimp, a little anchovy sauce 
to strengthen them, a pinch of mace, salt and pepper, 
ouet or butter in the imoportion of one quarter (or 
one. third if you can spare it) of the whole preparation 
*J*OBt essential, becanse it preserves the moisture 
within, so necessary to prevent the fish being too dry. 
iiimod oysters, and the liquor with them, can of course 
he used instead of the fresh-water sheU-fiah, or vnth them 
It the fish be very- large. Hero is a good receipt for 
baking a mun'al. See that the fish is perfectly clean, 
and thoroughly dry tiofore stuffing it. Take sufficient 
read crumbs to fill the fish nicely without overcrowd- 
jng, put them into a bowl, break into the liowl two, 
Iluoe or more eggs according to the quantity of 
crumby which is of course decided by the sine of the 
P“b. The eggs when added should moisten the crumbs 
throughout. Add about a teaspoonful each of thyme 
and marjoram from the bottle, and enough chopped 
suet to represent one third, or not less than one 
quarter of the whole mixture, salt and pepper in 
proportion. Instead of suet, tinned butter can be 
nnod, or minced cooked fat bacon. Two or three 
imchovies, wiped free from oil, may be minced and 
iMlded, or a slight allowance of anchovy sauce; if the 
liver of the fish has been saved it should bo minced, 
and put in also. In deciding the exact amounts of 
these ingredients you must be guided by discretion 
remembering that the crumbs give bulk, and the eggs 
cohesion ; that the suet, buttor, or fat provides the 
necessary internal basting, so to speak, and the herbs, 
Beasonmg, and anchovy, flavom-. Having thoroughly 
blended the whole composition like a pudding, fill the 
murm/ with it carefully, sewing up the opening in 
which it is confined. If by chance you have made 
a little too much, the stuffing that is over can be 
divided into portions, cutlet-wise, and fried, to bo 
served as a garnish. The fish having been thus pre- 
parod fdioiild now be set in tlio baking-dish (which 
Bhould bo well buttered) in a circular from, if liked, 
with Its tail secured in its mouth ; and thus far our 
proceedings are complete. 
of the stuffing and the arrange- 
j , ®.*^*,* should have been simmering 
‘ri“““«ng8, an oaloii, some 
snmrn fuh ““■y bo superfluous-; as- 
B^ing that several have been caught, and that after 
'®'^ for ‘be pur- 
mcn u, As already 
■eiitioned, a glass of ehablis sauterno, or hock, if 
aiiv chance available, should bo thrown in* or i£ 
fading 0^*"® be given, a glass of claret, 
lailing that a shen-y glass of vinegar. The stock is 
a “ ''®''y 1b?;b‘>‘y; allmta pint and 
“ bait,— that IS to say an ordinary quart bottleful,— 
will generally, unless the fish be very laige, be feund 
enough. Use it in this manner: — Pour as much of 
it as will moisten the dish round the fish to a depth 
of about two inches. Put a little butter on the fish, 
and then set the dish in the oven. Baste it every 
now and then with its own liquor, and use yont best 
endeavours to keep it moist. After about fifteen or 
twenty minutes' baking the fish will bo done. Mix in 
a saucepan separately a roux with half an ounce 
of butter and half an ounce of flour ; stir 
together over the fire for two minutes, then add 
a salt-spoonful of salt, a pinch of pepper, and a 
breakfast cupful of the fish slock previously mode; 
now empty the liquor that may remain in the baking- 
dish round the fi^ into this sauce, boil one minute, 
add half an ounce of batter and stir till it is melted. 
Put the murral carefully on a hot dish, ponr the sance 
over it., and serve. Be very careful in moving the 
fish : indeed, if yon think that it may break during that 
operation, leave it alone, pour the sauce over it, and 
wrap a napkin round the baking-dish in which it should 
be served. 
If the fish be over threee pounds in weight it is 
well worth wliile to roast it. The preparations in re- 
gard to cleaning, drying, and stuffiim are the same as 
those just described for baking. The operation of 
spitting, however, rMulros groat care, for if care- 
lessly done, and the fish be at all over-roasted, the 
chances are that it will fall off the spit, and break ta 
pieces. To iraard against this catastrophe you should 
make a cradle for the fish in this way. — Take four 
strips of thinly split bamboo, cut them a little longer 
than the fish, lay them in rows four inches apart, and tie 
across them, at intervals of six inches, (our tapes as 
in the following diagram: — 
The tapes, which are represented by the dotted lines, 
should be knotted to each strip of bamboo at the points 
of intersection. Thus wo have a cradle large enough 
for a fish eighteen inches long, and a foot or a little 
more in girtli. It is secured to the spit by the ends 
of tlie tapes, which are left over for that purpose. 
The arrangement is in principle something like the 
cradle which is placed round a horse's neck to prevent 
his tearing himself when under treatment for a wound. 
Having thus attached the fish securely to the spit the 
roasting should be conducted before a clear charcoal 
fire, and basting should be kept up continually. To 
facilitate this work, place a tin baking dish under the 
fish, put into it (our ounces of buttor, and when that 
has melted, a glass of vinegar; catch all the liquid 
that drops from the fish, and use this with the melted 
butter and vinegar for the basting. When done, detach 
the fish carefully, lay it in the hot dish prepared for 
it, and pour over it a sauce composed in the same 
way as that recommended for the baked murral. 
Tlio recipes given for baking and roasting the 
murral can bo applied to several other fish; — the va- 
rious carps and labeos, the ivallaju allu (freshwater 
shark) Ac., but very large fish ore better prepared in 
fillets than whole, tlie treatment of which must form 
part of another article . — Madras Mail. 
WONDERFUL TREES. 
The subject of wonderful trees is an almost inei- 
hanstible one, abounding in intirest and ouriosity. 
In our own St»‘o are found tko mv»l faniowr grOYe« 
