32 COLD FISH.
all round the fish, and garnish beyond this with triangular blocks of aspic. Send a sauce ravigotte to table with this dish. Trout, etc., can also be done thus, it being more troublesome than difficult to produce.
Salmon may, of course, be soused or pickled like any other fish. Another fact that few housewives appear to recognise is that salmon head and shoulder, or the tail end piece, may be utilised for any decorative dish quite as well as the more costly middle cut; the tail end especially is excellent for practice, for no one cares to set before their friends either their own or their cook's trial trips! Always have a new dish, however easy the directions may sound, carefully tested, before the results are made public. In France, where these parts of the fish are not as despised as they are with us, a hure de saumon, or a queue, is constantly served à la anything you please.
— Pie.—Skin and bone 2lb. or 3lb. of salmon and trim it into neat slices, sprinkling these with white pepper, salt, and a little minced spice. Have ready a rich forcemeat of white fish (haddock, whiting, etc., as previously described), made with 1lb. of fish; line a raised pie mould with a nice raised crust, and line this an inch thick with forcemeat, placing on this some of the salmon, and repeating these two layers till the dish is full, the filling being raised in a dome shape and well packed in. Cover with puff paste and bake very slowly. When cooked, let it rest for half an hour, then add the following gravy and serve when perfectly cold. For the gravy boil together 4oz. of lean ham cut into dice, one shallot, 2oz. of sliced carrot, a nice bouquet, and a claretglassful of Chablis, and let it boil till the wine is reduced one-fourth part; then add a gill of strong white stock (chicken or veal), simmer it together for half an hour,