A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery

they are cold. BOILED SALMON WITH CREAM SAUCE. In boiling a whole fish, or a large piece, use cold water. If you put a large piece of fish into boiling water, the outside will be cooked before it is done near the bone. Nothing is more disagreeable than a piece of fish half raw at the bone; it is uneatable. For a small piece of fish, such as I have here, use boiling salted water enough to cover it, and boil it until the flakes begin to separate, or until, by testing a fin, you can easily pull it out. That will probably be, if you use cold water, soon after the water boils; if you put the fish into boiling water, it may be five or more minutes. Boil the fish, whether it is large or small, until you can pull out a fin, or until the flakes separate. Then drain it, and serve it with any nice sauce. To-day I will make a very simple one--cream sauce. Of course you would always make the sauce while you were boiling the fish, taking care to have both done at the same time. For a pint of sauce, use a heaping tablespoonful of butter and a tablespoonful of flour; put them in a saucepan over the fire, and stir them together until they are smoothly mixed; then begin to add hot milk, half a cupful at a time; when the first half cupful of milk is stirred in, put in another half cupful and again stir until it is smooth; continue to add milk until you have used a pint, or until the sauce is about the consistency of thick cream. There will always be a margin there for a little discretion, because some flour will thicken very much more than others. Flour that is very rich in gluten will thicken more than that which has most starch in it. But you have there about the right proportions--a tablespoonful of flour, a tablespoonful of butter, a pint of milk. Add more or less milk as is required to make the