A guide to modern cookery

only because these are better able to resist the cooking process, but also owing to the fact that they are richer in gelatine in the live state. The fish more generally used are the eel, the perch, the tench, the carp, the pike, &c. After having scaled and emptied them, trim them and cut off their heads and tails. Cut the fish into sections; moisten these with just enough cold water to cover them; add a piece of butter, sufficient parsley roots or stalks to produce a decided taste, a few peppercorns, and some salt. Set to cook on a brisk fire, and take care that the cooking-liquor be reduced and sufficiently thickened when the fish are cooked. Serve in a timbale or on a dish, and send some slices of bread and butter to the table at the same time. CHAPTER XV RELEVÉS AND ENTRÉES The difference between Relevés and Entrées needs only to be examined very superficially in order for it to be seen how entirely the classification hangs on the question of bulk. Indeed, with very few exceptions, the same alimentary products—butcher’s meat, fish, poultry, and game—may be used with perfect propriety in the preparation of either Relevés or Entrées. And if the mode of preparation and the nature of the garnishing ingredients are sometimes dissimilar, it is owing to that difference in bulk referred to above, on account of which the Relevés, being more voluminous, are usually braised, _poëled_, poached, or roasted; while the Entrées, consisting of smaller pieces, are chiefly _sautéd_, poached, or grilled. In the menus of old-fashioned dinners à la Française, the line of demarcation between Relevés and Entrées was far more clearly defined, the latter being generally twice, if not thrice, as numerous as the former. The first service of a dinner for twenty people, for instance, comprised eight or twelve Entrées and four soups, all of which were set on the dining-table before the admission of the diners. As soon as the soups were served, the Relevés, to the number of four, two of which consisted of fish, took the place