Take up, lay separately in a large
dish, pour half a bottle of white wine into the pan, and stir hard. Add
six large, fresh tomatoes, sliced very thin, let boil a few minutes,
then half a lemon, also in very thin slices, and a pint of the fish
stock strained. Season well, with salt, pepper, and Cayenne--here the
palate is guide. Boil all together until reduced almost one half, then
lay in the fish slices, taking care they do not touch, and boil briskly
for five minutes. While the boiling goes on, chop fine a pinch of
saffron, put it in a small, deep dish, and mix smooth with a spoonful of
the boiling liquor. Dissolve the saffron very well, and when the fish
has cooked its allotted five minutes, spread the saffron on top of the
fish. Fry in butter as many slices of toast as you have slices of
fish--lay the fish on the toast, pour the sauce over it, and serve
immediately, very hot.

_Shrimps_: The secret of cooking shrimps is to boil them properly--that
is to say in very salt water, almost brine. They take up salt only in
the boiling, and not so much then. To five quarts of very salt water add
a large bunch of celery, chopped, roots, leaves and all, two dozen
allspice, one dozen cloves, two blades of mace, a bouquet of herbs
chopped small, a pod of red pepper, and a seasoning of Cayenne. Boil
until the strength of herbs and seasoning is extracted, then throw in a
hundred shrimps--river shrimps are best--let boil hard ten minutes, take
from fire and allow the shrimps to cool in the brine. Serve as a relish
before dinner, on a bed of cracked ice, with a garnish of parsley.

_Baked Shrimp_: Cut the eyes from a dozen large, meaty tomatoes, scoop
out the pulp, leaving the shells whole, then mix it with one hundred
shrimps boiled as directed and picked from their shells, one cup grated
bread crumbs or fine cracker crumbs, and one heaping tablespoon of
butter. Stew all together, seasoning with pepper and salt, fill the
tomato shells with the mixture, sift fine crumbs on top, dot with
butter, put in a pan, with a very little hot water in the bottom, and
bake until done in a quick but not scorching oven.

_Shrimp Pie_: Boil and pick from shells one hundred shrimps, mix well
with two large slices stale bread free of crust, moistened with two
glasses white wine, and highly seasoned with salt, pepper, Cayenne,
nutmeg, mace, chopped thyme and parsley. Crisp the bread crusts, and
grate over the mixture after it is packed in a deep di