TO FRY HERRING (Fisherwife's Fashion)

Herring
Coarse Oatmeal
Salt and Pepper
Dripping

 ~Remove the heads, fins, and tails with a pair of scissors. Gut if necessary, remove the scales, and wipe, but do not wash the fish. Score across on both sides, or split and bone them. They should be very dry, and to ensure this, may be left for an hour or more in the folds of a towel. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dip in the coarse oatmeal, pressing it on until the fish are completely coated.

~Melt a little dripping in a frying-pan, and, when it is smoking hot, put in the fish and fry on both sides (skin side first, if split) until nicely browned and cooked through -- about six to ten minutes. Drain, and serve very hot.

SCOTS TRIFLE

6 Sponge Cakes (Stale)
2 oz. Small Macaroons
2 oz. Ratafia Biscuits
A few Pistachio Nuts
Strawberry or Raspberry Jam
1 oz. Sugar
1 teaspoonful Vanilla Essence
1 gill Fruit Syrup
4 Egg Yolks
2 Egg Whites
1 pint Milk
1/2 pint Double Cream
3-4 tablespoonfuls Sherry

 ~Put the milk and sugar into a saucepan and heat to boiling point. Meanwhile, beat the eggs; then pour the hot milk over them, stirring well. Return to the pan, and stir over the fire till it thickens, but don't let it boil. Pour into a bowl, leave to cool a little, then add the vanilla. Split the sponge cakes, and spread thickly with the jam. Cut up roughly, and arrange in a deep glass dish, placing the macaroons and ratafias between each layer. Pour the syrup and sherry over; then the custard. Leave to cool and soak. Whip the cream stiffly, sweeten and flavour with vanilla, and cover the trifle. Ornament with rarafias and chopped pistachio nuts. At Christmas-time, substitute green and red crystallised fruits.

STAP

2 Haddock Heads
2 Haddock Liver
Salt
Pepper

~ The fish must be perfectly fresh. Wash the livers, put them into a small jar (a jam jar will do), cover with paper, and set in a pan of boiling water. Let it cook for an hour. Clean, wash and gently boil the haddock heads; or boil the whole fish and then cut off the heads. Remove all the flesh from these, and add to the livers. Mix thoroughly, season, and dish neatly. Serve, piping hot, as an accompaniment to the fish. 

BUTTERED PEAS

Peas
Mint
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

~ Use only young tender green peas for this dish. The smaller the sweeter. Melt a good piece of butter in a saucepan, put in the peas, add a sprig or two of mint, cover, and cook slowly over a gentle heat for about an hour, shaking occasionally  When half cooked, add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a very little sifted sugar. Remove the mint, and serve very hot.

ORANGE MARMALADE (a simple recipe)

2 lbs Bitter Oranges
2 Lemons
7 pints Water
8 lbs Sugar

~Wipe the fruit, cut in half, and remove the pips. Pass the fruit through the mincer. Put into a basin, cover with the water (cold), and leave for not less than twenty-four hours. Soak the pips in two teacupfuls of cold water. Next day boil the fruit along with the pips (tied in muslin) and the covering water for one hour. Add the sugar, and boil for 3/4 of an hour longer, or until it jells when teased on a cold saucer. Pot, and cover immediately.

SALMON SEALS

1/2 lb. Boiled Salmon
1 1/2 lbs. Potatoes
1 or 2 Eggs
A walnut of Butter
Salt and Pepper
A little Beaten Egg
A few Breadcrumbs
Dripping to fry


~Boil the potatoes and mash with a little butter and pepper; then form into small round cakes about a quarter-inch thick. Hard-boil one or two eggs and chop small. Flake the salmon and mix with the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Press a spoonful of the mixture into a potato cake and put another cake over it. When all are ready, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry in hot dripping to a golden brown.


~This method makes a little salmon go a long way.

PIRR

2 tablespoonfuls Oatmeal

1/4 teaspoonful Cream of Tartar

1 teaspoonful Sugar

1/2 pint Water

A little milk

~Mix the oatmeal, sugar, and cream of tartar in a warm jug, and add just enough cold milk to make a smooth paste. Pour in the boiling water, stirring all the time.

~This is a refreshing drink, and an excellent cure for a cold if served piping-hot on retiring.

TOMATO AND SYBO SALAD

Tomatoes

Syboes (Spring Onions)

Salt

Pepper

Simple French Dressing

~Put the tomatoes into boiling water for half a minute, then into cold, and remove skin. Cut into slices, season with salt and pepper, and lay the slices, overlapping, in a long, narrow dish. Sprinkle generously with finely chopped syboes, and pour a little French dressing over all.

~This is excellent with brown bread and butter and cheese, or, together with a potato salad, as an accompaniment to a cold-meat roll, cold chicken, etc., at a summer lunch.

KIPPER TOASTS

Kipper

Cayenne

Mustard

Buttered Toast

~Grill a kipper, strip the flesh from the skin and bones, and pound well. Season with cayenne. Spread the buttered toast very thinly with made mustard, and then with the kipper cream.

CULLEN SKINK

A Smoked Haddock

1 Onion

1 oz. Butter

1 pint Milk

Water

Mashed Potato

~Skin a smoked (preferably Findon) haddock, and place it in a pan with just enough boiling water to cover it. Bring to the boil and add a chopped onion. When the haddock is cooked, take it out and remove all the bones. Flake the fish and return the bones to the stock. Boil for one hour. Strain the stock, and bring again to the boil. Bring the milk to the boil in another pan, and add it to the stock with the flaked fish. Add salt to taste, and boil for a few minutes. Add enough mashed potato to make the soup of a nice consistency, with the butter and pepper to taste, and serve.

BARLEY PUDDING

8 oz. Barley
4 oz. Currents
A pinch of Salt
1 quart of Water

~Put the barley into a pan with the cold water, bring slowly to the boil, and for 1 and 1/2 hours. Add the currants (washed) and simmer for half an hour longer. Serve with sugar and thin cream of milk.

TATTIES AN' HERRIN'

Herring
Potatoes
Salt
Water

~Fill a pot nearly full with potatoes, either peeled or (in the old tradition) merely scrubbed. Bring to the boil, and, when the potatoes are half-cooked, pour off most of the water. Return the pot to the fire, place the herring carefully over the potatoes, cover closely, and cook in the steam till ready. Lift on to a hot asher, and steam the potatoes till dry and mealy.

CLAPSHOT

Potatoes
Turnips
Chives or Shallot
Salt
Pepper
Butter or Dripping

~Boil, drain, and dry equal quantities of potatoes and turnip. Chop the chives or shallot. Break up a good piece of dripping. Mash the potatoes and turnip well together with the dripping. Sprinkle with chives, season well, mix thoroughly, and serve very hot.

DOUGLAS HONEY CAKE

1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Ground Almonds
1 teaspoonful Baking Powder
1/2 cup Honey
2 Eggs

~Sift the flour and baking-powder together, and add half the ground almonds. Cream the butter and sugar, and add gradually the well-beaten eggs and the flour, a little of each alternately. Beat thoroughly, and pour into two small well-greased sandwich tins. Bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes, or until well risen and firm. Blend the remainder of the ground almonds with the honey, and when the cakes are cold, spread one with the mixture and place the other on top. If desired, it may be iced and decorated, but it is usually eaten plain.

TEA PANCAKES

1 teacupful Flour
1 tablespoon Sifted Sugar
1 saltspoonful Salt
1 Egg
Milk to mix
Suet to grease girdle

~Beat the egg. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar and salt. Add gradually, stirring all the while, enough milk to make a batter of the consistency of thin cream. Add the egg and beat well. Have ready a fairly hot girdle, rub it over with a piece of suet wrapped in a clean white rag, put on a large tablespoonful of the batter, spreading it out as thinly and making it as round as possible. It should brown very quickly; then turn and brown the other side.
The pancakes may be made in a small omelette pan greased with lard.
Turn on to a clean towel and cover. When cool, spread with butter and/or jam and roll up. They may be eaten fresh, and the closer to tea-time they are made the better.

GRUEL

1 1/4 oz. Oatmeal
A pinch of Salt
1/2 pint Water
1 teaspoonful Honey or Syrup
A pat of Butter

~Soak the oatmeal in the water (cold) for half an hour or longer, then turn into a sieve placed over a saucepan and press the liquid through (using a wooden spoon). This contains all the flour of the meal, which should be left as dry as possible. A little cold water may be added to help extract the flour. Place the pan over heat and stir till it boils. Add salt and cook gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring all the time. Withdraw, and stir in the butter and honey or syrup.
This is an old-fashioned cure for a cold or sore throat, and is usually highly popular with the invalid.

POTTED HOUGH

3 LBS. HOUGH (Shin of Beef)
1 Nape Bone
Salt and Pepper
Water

~Put the hough and bone into a pot, cover with cold water, and add salt. Bring very slowly to boiling-point, and simmer very gently for 5 or 6 hours until the meat is loosed from the bones. Remove the bones, chop the meat small or mince it, and return to the pot with the stock; add a little more boiling water if necessary, season with salt and pepper, and boil for another 10 minutes-no longer. When cool, turn into wetted moulds.
It is an excellent plan to put the hough on the fire at night, without letting it boil. Prepared thus, it has a richer taste than when cooked in the ordinary way.
If enjoyed slightly spiced, tie a half-teaspoonful apiece of whole spices, whole mace, and peppercorns in muslin, and add when the meat first comes to the boil. Remove when sufficiently seasoned.