Should they not make brine enough to cover them in a few weeks, you must
add some, for they will be rusty if not kept under brine. The proper
time to salt them is when they are quite fat: the scales will adhere
closely to a lean herring, but will be loose on a fat one--the former is
not fit to be eaten. Do not be sparing of salt when you put them up.
When they are to be used, take a few out of brine, soak them an hour or
two, scale them nicely, pull off the gills, and the only entrail they
have will come with them; wash them clean and hang them up to dry. When
to be broiled, take half a sheet of white paper, rub it over with
butter, put the herring in, double the edges securely, and broil without
burning it. The brine the herrings drink before they die, has a
wonderful effect in preserving their juices: when one or two years old,
they are equal to anchovies.
* * * * *
TO BAKE STURGEON.
Get a piece of sturgeon with the skin on, the piece next to the tail,
scrape it well, cut out the gristle, and boil it about twenty minutes to
take out the oil; take it up, pull off the large scales, and when cold,
stuff it with forcemeat, made of bread crumbs, butter, chopped parsley,
pepper and salt, put it in a Dutch oven just large enough to hold it,
with a pint and a half of water, a gill of red wine, one of mushroom
catsup, some salt and pepper, stew it gently till the gravy is reduced
to the quantity necessary to pour over it; take up your sturgeon
carefully, thicken the gravy with a spoonful of butter rubbed into a
large one of brown flour;--see that it is perfectly smooth when you put
it in the dish.
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