Modern cookery for private families

not to be recommended for the table, as the skin contains an oil of exceedingly strong rank flavour; when entirely divested of this, the flesh is tolerably sweet and palatable. Persons who may be disposed from curiosity to taste it will find either broiling or baking in a gentle oven the best mode of cooking it. It should be curled round, and the tail fastened into the bill. As it is not of large size, from fifteen to twenty minutes will dress it sufficiently. Anchovy sauce, parsley and butter, or plain melted butter, may be eaten with it. SAND-LAUNCE, OR, SAND-EEL. [Illustration: Sand-Eel. ] The sand-launce, which is abundant on many parts of our coast, and the name of which is derived from its habit of burrowing in the sands when the tide retires, may be distinguished from the larger species, the true _sand-eel_, by its lighter colour and more transparent appearance, as well as by its inferior size. The common mode of dressing the fish, which is considered by many a great delicacy, is to divest them of their heads, and to remove the insides with the gills, to dry them well in a cloth with flour, and to fry them until crisp. They are sometimes also dipped in batter like smelts. We have not ourselves had an opportunity of testing them, but we have received the particulars which we have given here from various friends who have resided where they were plentiful. The _sand-eels_ are not so good as the smaller kind of these fish called _launces_. TO FRY SMELTS. [In season from beginning of November to May.] Smelts when quite fresh have a perfume resembling that of a cucumber, and a peculiarly delicate and agreeable flavour when dressed. Draw them at the gills, as they must not be opened; wash and dry them thoroughly in a cloth; dip them into beaten egg-yolk, and then into the finest bread-crumbs, mixed with a very small quantity of flour; fry them of a clear golden brown, and serve them crisp and dry, with good melted butter in a tureen. They