Mrs. Cromwell's Kitchen

Fish

To Roast Eels.
When they are flayed, cut them to pieces about three or four inches long, dry them, and put them into a dish, mince a little thyme, two onions, a piece of lemon peel, a little pepper beaten small, nutmeg, mace and salt, when it is cut exceeding small, strew it on the eels with the yolk of two or three eggs, then having a small spit (otherwise a couple of square sticks made for that purpose) spit through the eel cross ways, and put a bay leaf between every piece of eel, and tying the sticks on a spit let them roast. You need not turn them constantly, but let them stand until they hiss, or are brown, so do them on the other side, and put the dish (in which the eel was with the seasoning) underneath to save the gravy, baste it over with sweet butter. The sauce must be a little claret wine, some minced oysters with their liquor, a grated nutmeg and an onion, with sweet butter, and so serve it.

To boil Eels.
Cut the Eels as before, and stew them, when they are half done, beat a little ale with vinegar, and put into the liquor, with some parsley and sweet herbs: dish them and serve them up in their broth with a little salt.

To make an Eel Pie.
Your eels being flayed, washed, and cut in pieces, as long as you think convenient, put to them a handful of sweet herbs, parsley minced with onion, season them with pepper, salt, cloves, mace, and nutmeg, and having your coffin made of good pastry, put them in and strew over them, two handful of currants, and a lemon cut in slices, then put on butter and close the pie, when it is baked, put in at the funnel a little sweet butter, white wine and vinegar, beaten up with a couple of yolks of eggs.

How to make an Eel Pie, with Oysters.
Take the eels, wash them and gut them, and dry them well in a cloth, to four good eels allow a pint of oysters well washed, season them with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and large mace, put half a pound of butter into the pie, as also half a lemon sliced, so bake it, when it is drawn, take the yolks of two eggs, a couple of anchovies dissolved in a little white wine, with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, melt it, and mix altogether and make a lear of it, and put it into the pie.

To dress a Cod's head.
Cut off the cod's head beyond the gills, that you may have part of the body with it, boil it in water and salt, to which you may add half a pint of vinegar, the head must be a little more than covered before you put it in the cauldron, take a quart of the biggest cleanest oysters, and a bunch of sweet herbs and onions, and put them into the mouth of the head, and with a packthread bind the jaws fast, you must be sure to prick it and wash it very clean, when it is boiled enough, take it up and set it a drying over a chafing-dish of coals, then take the oyster liquor, four anchovies, and a sliced onion; put to them a quarter of a pint of white wine, and sweet butter, and melt them together, and pour it on the cod's head, stick all or most of the oysters upon the head, or where they will enter, and garnish it over with them, grate on a little nutmeg, and send it smoking up, garnish the brims of the dish with lemon and sliced bay leaves.

To boil Perches.
Let your liquor boil, and your pan be seasoned with a little white wine, a couple of onions cut in halves, and a bunch of sweet herbs, and a little white pepper, boil them up very quick, and flay them on both sides, and dish them upon sippets, then take a little white wine, gravy, and vinegar, with a grated nutmeg, and almost boil it over a chafing-dish, then pour sweet butter over it; garnish it with barberries and sliced lemons.

To boil Flounders or jacks after the best manner.
Take a pint of white wine, the tops of young thyme and rosemary, and a little whole mace, a little whole pepper seasoned with verjuice, salt, and a piece of sweet butter, and so serve it; you may do fish in the same liquor three or four times.

To stew a dish of Trouts.
Let your frying-pan be very hot with clarified butter, then split them in two, and give them a sudden brown with a forcible heat, and let a stewing dish be ready prepared with gravy, oyster liquor, a little claret wine and vinegar, fry three or four sliced onions, and when they are brown, put them to the fish, with a handful of parsley fried green, a sliced nutmeg, two or three anchovies, and let it just boil up together, then dish up your trouts upon sippets; notwithstanding the best way for crispness and and sight of your fish, is to fry the split fish as trout, salmon peel, and salmon very crisp and brown; dish it up with the inside uppermost.

To stew a Carp.
Take a living carp and knock him on the head, open him in the belly and take heed you break not the gall, pour in a little vinegar, and wash out all the blood, stir it about with your hand, then keep it safe, then have a pan or skillet on the fire, with so much white wine as will almost cover the fish; put to it an onion cut in the middle, a clove or less of garlic, a race of ginger shred, a nutmeg quartered, a faggot or bundle of sweet herbs, three or four anchovies, your carp being cut out and rubbed all over with salt, when the wine (if abated with a little water will do as well) doth boil, put the carp in, and cover him close, and let him stew up for about a quarter of an hour, then put in the blood and vinegar with a little butter, so dish up the carp, and let the spawn, milt and rivet be laid upon it, the liquor that boiled him, with the butter, is the best sauce, and is to be eaten as broth; garnish the dish with lemons and grated bread.

To pickle Oysters.
Take a quart of the largest great oysters, with the liquor, wash them clean, and wipe them, add to them a pint of fair water, with half a pint of white wine vinegar, half an ounce of whole pepper, an handful of salt, a quarter of an ounce of large mace, with the liquor of the oysters strained, put altogether in a pipkin over a soft fire, let them simmer together a quarter of an hour; when the oysters are enough, take them up and put them into a little fair water and vinegar, until they be cold, the pickle boiling a quarter of an hour after the oysters are taken up, both being cold put them up together; when you use them, garnish the dish with barberries and lemon, and a little of the mace and pepper, and pour in some of the pickle.

To broil Oysters.
Take the biggest oysters you can get, then take a little minced thyme, grated nutmeg, and grated bread, and a little salt, put this to the oysters, then get some of the largest bottom shells and place them on the gridiron, and put two or three oysters in each shell, then put some butter to them, and let them simmer on the fire till the liquor bubbles low, supplying it still with butter, when they are crisp, feed them with white wine, and a little of their own liquor, with a little grated bread, nutmeg and minced thyme, but as much only to relish it, so let it boil up again, then add some drawn butter to thicken them, and dish them on a dish or plate, but if you have scallop shells it is the best way to broil them in.

To broil Scallops.
First boil the scallops, and then take them out of the shells and wash them, then slice them and season them with nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon, and put them into the bottom of your shells again, with a little butter, white wine and vinegar, and grated bread, let them be broiled on both sides; if they are sharp, they must have sugar added to them, for the fish is luscious and sweet naturally; there is therefore another proper way to broil them, with oyster liquor and gravy, with dissolved anchovies, minced onions and thyme, with the juice of a lemon in it.