583.—PLAICE, FRIED. (Another Method.)
Ingredients.—1 medium-sized plaice, flour, salt and pepper, frying-fat or oil.
Method.—Prepare the fish as in the preceding recipe, but instead of coating the fish with egg and breadcrumbs, slip each piece into a thick smooth batter made of flour and water.
Time.—To fry, about 10 minutes. Average Cost, 1s. to 1s. 4d. Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons. Seasonable all the year round.
584.—PLAICE, OR SOLES, ROLLED. (Fr.—Paupiettes de Plie.)
Ingredients.—1 plaice or 2 soles, lemon-juice, pepper and salt, ½ a shallot, 1 bay-leaf, parsley, 2 cloves, 1 oz. of butter, 1 oz. of flour, ½ a pint of fish stock, (1 gill of milk, 1 gill of water, 1 tablespoonful of cream).
Method.—Fillet the plaice, season the fillets with salt, pepper, and lemon-juice. Roll them, and put them on a greased baking-sheet with a greased paper over them. Put the bones into a stewpan with the milk and water, bay-leaf, parsley stalks, cloves, and shallot, and simmer for 20 minutes. Melt the butter, add the flour, and cook for a few minutes, then add the fish stock, and stir the ingredients until they boil. Bake the rolled fillets for about 10 minutes or until cooked sufficiently, and season to taste. Dish them neatly on a hot dish, strain the sauce over, sprinkle a little chopped parsley on the top, and serve very hot.
Time.—To bake, from 5 to 10 minutes. Average Cost, 1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d., when plaice is used. Sufficient for 5 to 6 persons. Seasonable all the year round.
585.—TO BOIL PRAWNS, OR SHRIMPS. (Fr.—Crevettes.)
Method.—Prawns should be very red, and have no spawn when cooked; much depends on their freshness, and the way in which they are cooked. Throw them into boiling water, salted, and keep them boiling for about 7 or 8 minutes. Shrimps should be done in the same way, but less time must be allowed. It may easily be known when they are done by their changing colour. Care should be taken that they are not over-boiled, as they then become tasteless and indigestible.
Time.—Prawns, about 8 minutes; shrimps, about 5 minutes. Average Cost, prawns, 9d. to 1s. 6d. per dozen; shrimps, 4d. to 6d. a pint. Seasonable all the year.
The Prawn (Fr. crevette) is a crustacean allied to the lobsters and crabs, and resembles the shrimp in its appearance, but it is much larger and more delicate in flavour. Its colour is light orange-grey and the body is almost transparent; it changes to red when boiled, and becomes opaque. The prawn abounds in various parts of the English coast, especially in the south and south-west.
