it very slowly in the oven for two hours; let it stand
till, nearly cold, in its liquor, etc.; lift the fish carefully
into a deep earthenware dish, pour the liquor, etc., round
and leave it till cold. Nothing should ever be allowed
to stand till cold in the menu, for it was cooked; it
does not necessarily poison the food thus left, though
even that is possible, but it certainly ruins the delicacy
of the flavour); then remove the cloth, etc., carefully
with a clean napkin, and when perfectly cold mask it
with aspic, and, if you like, when this is firm, pipe the
fish with green or lobster butter. Personally, this piping
seems to me a mistake, and I would always far rather
have a fish galantine served in jelly with some chopped
aspic and seasoned watercress round it, than these
troublesome and laboured decorations, which seem out
of place in a private house. N.B.—A most excellent
fish jelly for garnishing may be made with the liquor
in which this galantine was cooked, or, indeed, with
either court-bouillon or ordinary fish stock, by treating
it exactly like meat stock, and clarifying it with raw
fish, etc., instead of raw meat, or, failing this, with a bit
of clear beef gelatine to a pint of court-bouillon, clarify it
with the white and shell of an egg, etc., add a little white
French or Rhine wine, and use. This jelly, while
possessing a distinct flavour of its own, avoids the
acidity which is so disagreeable to many people in
aspic.
Cod Steaks in Aspic (Darnes de cabillaud en aspic).—
The cod steaks used for this may be either cooked on pur-
pose (in the oven, on a buttered baking-dish with a season-
ing of white pepper, salt, lemon juice, etc., under a
buttered paper), or may be cut in neat, even cutlets from
a cold boiled fish, as you please. Pour a little good fish
aspic, just on the point of setting, into a deep and