gravy, while the fowls are cooking; in this case, the
water they are boiled in should be used to make the gravy.

FISH.

Cod has white stripes, and a haddock black stripes; they may be known
apart by this. Haddock is the best for frying; and cod is the best
for boiling, or for a chowder. A thin tail is a sign of a poor fish;
always choose a thick fish. When you are buying mackerel, pinch the
belly to ascertain whether it is good. If it gives under your finger,
like a bladder half filled with wind, the fish is poor; if it feels
hard like butter, the fish is good. It is cheaper to buy one large
mackerel for ninepence, than two for four pence half-penny each.

Fish should not be put in to fry until the fat is boiling hot; it is
very necessary to observe this. It should be dipped in Indian meal
before it is put in; and the skinny side uppermost, when first put
in, to prevent its breaking. It relishes better to be fried after salt
pork, than to be fried in lard alone. People are mistaken, who think
fresh fish should be put into cold water as soon as it is brought into
the house; soaking it in water is injurious. If you want to keep it
sweet, clean it, wash it, wipe it dry with a clean towel, sprinkle
salt inside and out, put it in a covered dish, and keep it on the
_cellar_ floor until you want to cook it. If you live remote from the
seaport, and cannot get fish while hard and fresh, wet it with an egg
beaten, before you meal it, to prevent its breaking.

Fish gravy is very much improved by taking out some of the fat, after
the fish is fried, and putting in a little butter. The fat thus taken
out will do to fry fish again; but it will not do for any kind of
shortening. Shake in a little flour into the hot fat, and pour in a
little boiling water; stir it up well, as it boils, a minute or so.
Some people put in vinegar; but this is easily added by those who like
it.

A common sized cod-fish should be put in when the water is boiling
hot, and boil about twenty minutes. Haddock is not as good for boiling
as cod; it takes about the same time to boil.

A piece of halibut which weighs four pounds is a large dinner for a
family of six or seven. It should boil forty minutes. No fish put in
till the water boils. Melted butter for sauce.

Clams should boil about fifteen minutes in their own water; no other
need be added, except a spoonful to keep the bottom shells from
burning. It is easy to tell when they are done, by the sh