—Red, en Mayonnaise.—Broil the fish, fillet
and bone them when cold, and serve covered with
mayonnaise flavoured with green tarragon and tarragon
vinegar, in the same way as is recommended for Mackerel
à la Vert-pré.
Pike in Jelly (Brochet en aspic).—Thoroughly cleanse
a pike, and either stuff it with a rich forcemeat, or put
inside a large carrot trimmed flat on one side and well-
coated with butter; fasten up the fish, roll it in thinly-
sliced fat bacon, or a heavily-buttered paper, tie it up in
a clean cloth, and cook it till done in a court-bouillon,
with either Sauterne, or such like, or sherry, to which
you have added half its bulk of water and a good flavour-
ing of lemon-juice. When ready, lift it out and fix it
firmly in a pan, back up, as if swimming, pour its liquor
over it, and leave till perfectly cold. Now drain it
thoroughly, wipe it with a clean cloth, and with a sharp
knife make a deep cut each side the backbone, and
carefully remove the fillets on each side as whole and
cleanly as you can. Trim off the skin, and slice the
fillets neatly (a process the consistency of this fish renders
easy), and then replace them in position. Brush the
fish over thoroughly with some pretty stiff aspic jelly,
and when this is set, lift it on to its dish. A strainer,
or a sheet of wood, neatly covered with a napkin, should
be set under the fish to raise it a little, but it must not
project as far as the garnish. For the latter various
things are adopted. Chefs use silver skewers, using
three or five according to the size of the fish, garnishing
them in pairs or in sizes, as they fancy, with crayfish
or prawns, hard-boiled egg yolks, truffles, gherkins, etc.;
but a very satisfactory, if simpler decoration, may be
produced with halved hard-boiled eggs, the whites being
filled up with shrimp, lobster, or anchovy butter,