38 COLD FISH.
into nice pieces), and toss the fish lightly in a vinaigrette sauce made thus: Mix together a dessertspoonful of French mustard (or use half English, half French), a saltspoonful of salt, and half that quantity of freshly-ground black pepper; moisten this carefully and gradually with salad oil and vinegar, using a teaspoonful of vinegar to every eight teaspoonfuls of oil; when this is well blended, stir in a tablespoonful of minced parsley, chives, chervil, tarragon, etc., adding however two parts of parsley to each part of the other herbs. This sauce may be varied by using plain vinegar and omitting the tarragon; or anchovy vinegar and minced mustard and cress may be used; this is especially good with any form of shellfish. (Anchovy vinegar may be bought at most good Italian warehouses, or it may be made at home by the recipe given in No. III. of this series on “Pickles and Preserves”; or lastly, where the clearness of the sauce is not of so much importance, a teaspoonful of Burgess's essence of anchovy may be stirred in a gill of the best malt vinegar.) When the fish has been thoroughly but lightly mixed with this dressing, it should be lifted into the dish it is to be served in, surrounded with quartered lettuces, and dusted with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg crushed through a sieve. This last is of course a matter of taste. For those who like it, a boatful of mayonnaise sauce, may be sent to table with this, though it is not a necessity. Almost any fish may be prepared in this way, and few save those who have tried it, know how good the most ordinary cold fish can be if treated in this manner. Needlessly, presumably, to add, this form of fish salad can be elaborated to any extent by the addition of washed, boned, and filleted anchovies, caviar, olives (stoned and farced, or not, as preferred), shrimps, or prawns, etc., according to the fish used.