THIRTEEN WAYS TO COOK RED SNAPPER

FRIED RED SNAPPER

Clean the fish, skin, and remove the backbone. Slice lengthwise in long thin strips, roll up and fasten with a toothpick or skewer. Dip in egg, then in cracker dust, and fry in deep fat. Serve with Tartar Sauce.

BOILED RED SNAPPER--I

Clean and draw the fish and boil slowly in salted and acidulated water to cover. Drain and serve with any preferred sauce.

BOILED RED SNAPPER--II

Clean a red snapper, sew it up in mosquito netting, and boil it in salted and acidulated water. Drain carefully, unwrap, and serve with Tomato Sauce.

BAKED RED SNAPPER--I

Prepare and clean the fish, stuff with [Page 258] seasoned crumbs and chopped oysters. Put on a buttered tin sheet and lay into a baking-pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour and bake for an hour, basting with melted butter and hot water as required. Serve with any preferred sauce.

BAKED RED SNAPPER--II

Clean and season the fish, rub with vinegar, and put into a baking-pan. Dot with butter, sprinkle with parsley, and bake, basting with melted butter and hot water as required. Serve with Tomato Sauce.

BAKED RED SNAPPER--III

Clean the fish, leaving the head on, and stuff with seasoned crumbs, cover with sliced tomatoes and sliced lemon, and bake, basting occasionally with melted butter and hot water.

BAKED RED SNAPPER WITH TOMATO SAUCE

Season four pounds of prepared and cleaned red snapper with salt and pepper. Cover with thin slices of bacon, dredge with flour, and put into a buttered baking-pan with two cupfuls of boiling water. Bake slowly. While it is baking fry brown two slices of chopped [Page 259] bacon, add a chopped onion, a pepper pod, a can of tomatoes, and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook until it thickens, pour over the fish, and finish baking. Take up carefully.

BAKED RED SNAPPER A LA CREOLE

Clean, split, and bone a large red snapper, lay it together again, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put into a buttered baking-pan. Fry in butter a chopped onion, half a dozen sliced mushrooms, two fresh tomatoes, and one green pepper chopped. Add a cupful of stock, spread over the fish and bake for twenty minutes, basting with melted butter and hot water as required. Take up carefully, sprinkle with minced parsley, and serve.

STUFFED RED SNAPPER

Make a stuffing of one cupful of chopped oysters, half a cupful of cracker crumbs, one egg well beaten, a teaspoonful of chopped onion, a tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of minced parsley, and salt, pepper, and paprika to season. Add cream or oyster liquor to make soft, fill the fish, and sew up. Put a layer of salt pork, sliced tomato, and sliced onion into a baking-pan, lay the fish upon it, cover with chopped salt pork, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour, add two cupfuls of stock and bake for an hour, basting as [Page 260] required. Take up the fish carefully, rub the tomatoes and liquid through a puree sieve, thicken with butter and flour cooked together, pour around the fish, and serve.

STUFFED RED SNAPPER A LA CREOLE

Cook together a can of tomatoes, six chopped onions, a cupful of dry bread crumbs, a tablespoonful of Worcestershire Sauce, three tablespoonfuls of butter, and salt, red and black pepper to season. Stuff the prepared and cleaned red snapper with the mixture, sew up, spread with the remaining dressing, dot with butter, and bake for an hour. Take up carefully.

STEAMED RED SNAPPER

Lay a cleaned red snapper in a steamer on a bed of sliced tomatoes and chopped onion. Steam slowly for an hour or more, turning once. Serve with Oyster or Tartar Sauce.

RED SNAPPER A LA BABETTE

Clean the fish and rub with salt and pepper inside and out. Boil in salted water to which has been added a small bunch of parsley, a celery root, two sliced onions, a chopped carrot, and a blade of mace. When done, take up, sprinkle with crumbs, dot with butter, [Page 261] and brown in the oven. Strain the liquid, thicken with butter and flour cooked together, pour around the fish, and serve.

RED SNAPPER A LA BEAUFORT

Put the prepared and cleaned fish into a fish-kettle with a pint each of white wine, white stock, and water, adding salt and sweet herbs to season, and half a cupful of mixed vegetables cut fine. Simmer for an hour, drain, skin, and put on a serving-dish. Strain the liquid, thicken with two tablespoonfuls each of butter and flour cooked together, add a teaspoonful of beef extract, salt and cayenne pepper to season, take from the fire, add the yolks of four eggs, beaten with the juice of a lemon and two tablespoonfuls of butter, pour over the fish, and serve.