LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 156, 3 July 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

Oysters. t U; (By A FRENCH CHEF.) " SOME people would refuse to eat an o' ovster other than au naturel, that i o is, served raw in the shell, accom- I panicd by cut lemon, cayenne pepper, d chilli vinegar and thir.ly-cut brown j bread and butter. Where a refrigerator ; 1 is available, about a dozen ice cubes j 5 should be crushed fairly finely to form ' a bed on which the oyster shells should , 1 rest. Small oysters that one would , ! hardly care to serve au naturel make ■ excellent oyster cocktails. If served as , an alternative to liors doeuvres. three or four would be sufficient. But if they | take the place of the fish course for a meal at home, six at least should be allowed per person. Put the required number of oysters with a little of their ! liquor into wine glasses, add a squeeze | of lemon juice, half a teaspoonful of j chilli vinegar, a few drops of Worcester sauce, and one and a half tablespoonfuls of tomato ketchup. Mix well and chill before serving. I Concerning Cooking of Fresh-water Fish. Actually, the cooking of fresh-water ' or sea fish should not present any special difficulties, partly because th<simplest methods generally give satisfactory results, but also because as r. food it cooks quickly and therefore doe' not demand much attention. In Fran<v —a very Catholic country —much fish is eaten. Always on Fridays, sometimes on Wednesdays, and. of course, during Lent. With the exception salmon and trout, most varieties of fresh-water fish lack flavour, and in some cases are definitely in-ipid: consequently. care is needed to cn-ure that no flavour is lost, and nl-<- that a little additional flavouring is introduced. Tinmost successful way of doing this i- to serve a really well-made and carefully seasoned sauce. The simple sauce* made with herbs, stirh as parsley, fennel and tarrogon. are the kind that give a finish to the dish, without being too * piquant. Equally successful results can 1 be obtained by introducing—but with less strength—chives, watercress, garlic, s shallots, bay, tomatoes and mixed herbs, e The chief thing to remember about r fresh-water fish, as has already been n emphasised, is to cook it as simply as n possible, and to avoid the use of ton n much water. The greater the quantity 8 of water used, the more flavourless thf fish becomes. The time of cooking e should be reduced to a minimum. d over-cooking rids the fish of even more wd tend* to make it watery.

Trout and Salmon. The following directions and suggestions for cooking apply equally to all he above-mentioned fish. In fact, nearly ;very kind of fresh-water fish is delicijus, if cooked carefully according to these instructions, although the flavour of some may still remain unpalatable to people who have definite likes and dislikes. The simplest method of cooking i» boiling, and the would-be succesevil cook should immediately forget the old idea of the term "boiling," vit, that it is cooking food in a large quantity of slightly salted water. The pan in which the fresh-water fish is to be boiled should, if possible, be large enough to take 5t at full length, but if not, the fi«h could be bent round and the tail placed through the mouth and kept in position with a tiny wooden skewer. Sufficient water barely to cover the fish should be used, and this must l>e seasoned carefully, sometimes with salt only, but occasionally other flavouring, such as a bunch of herbs. pepper-corns, mace and lemon juice, can oe added. The water should be hot when the is put in. and then allowed to come almost to boiling point, and then simmer until the fi-h is cooked. In no circumstances should it l>e allowed 1o boil hard, for s]<iw cook in I ie one of the secrets of Micrer-s. I ndt*r-rookcd fish is ino»t unpalatable and should be avoided at all co«t*. ii Small fi-h will cook in 1° 1o 15 minute*, uliilc larjo one- will take lip to half an hour or even longer. The time should lie calculated from the moment the reaches *imnierizg point, after the fish ha- been put in. For a salmon or other large fi-h it will generally be found that 10 to 12 minutes to the pound is needed. A really good sauce consi-ts of flour, butter, liquid, and some flavouring such as anchovy. • par-ley. etc- The flavouring i* generally ' added immediately l>efore the is ' served, and as the palatabilily largely 1 depend- on the seasoning and flavouring, 1 discretion is required in their r>-e. 1 To enrich a sauce one can add cream. 1 a larger proportion of butter. or 1 unsweetened evaporated milk. Man) 1 people may think the latter the lno-t '• unsuitable ingredient, but they on'y L - need to trv it once to value its po--i bilities. The Hquid can eilher be milk. n a mixture of milk and water, or fi-h 8 stock in the case of melted butler -auee, 0 water or fish stork and no milk. 1 The enriching of a poorly blended -auee ie will not improve it very much, and thereg fore care should be taken wilh ihe initial it stage* to prevent lumps and also to e ensure thorough and complete rooking of ' the starch grains.