24. Mock Scallop Oysters.

Scrape some salsify roots, boil them until tender, drain. Beat with wooden spoon to a smooth paste free of fibre. Moisten with cream, add a teaspoonful of butter or a thick white sauce. Serve in fireproof china, or in scallop shells. Put breadcrumbs on top, which have been steeped in butter and browned.

25. Mock Oyster Patties.

Make the above mixture, put it into short puff paste made into patties, and bake until a nice brown tint.

26. Green Artichokes.

(A substitute for Oysters).

Boil some green artichoke heads until tender (about 1 hour) and serve hot. Mix some French wine vinegar and pure olive oil (one teaspoonful of vinegar to three of oil) with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Strip off the leaves one by one and dip the fleshy ends in the dressing; then scrape off the tender part of the leaf with the teeth. When the leaves are stripped, cut out the centre of the 'crown' and cut off its stalk quite short. Remove the seeds, and the crown itself will then be found a bonne bouche.

27. Fried Chinese Artichokes.

Boil the artichokes until tender. After draining, drop them into batter of fine breadcrumbs and egg. Fry crisp and serve with parsley sauce and slices of lemon.

28. Mock Fish Cutlets.

Two ozs. rice, 4-ozs. white haricot beans, ½-gill of thick curry sauce, pepper and salt, egg and breadcrumbs.

Make a thick curry sauce, add to it the boiled rice and beans chopped up fine, pepper and salt. Cook together for a few minutes, then turn out on a plate and leave to cool. Form into balls or small flat cakes, dip in egg, then crumbs, and fry in boiling oil.

29. Fillets of Mock Sole.

Bring to a boil half a pint of milk, and stir in 2-ozs. of ground rice. Add 1-oz. of butter, a teaspoonful of grated onion, and a pinch of mace; also 3 large tablespoonfuls of potato which has been put through a fine sieve. Mix and let all simmer slowly in the saucepan for 15 minutes. The mixture should be fairly stiff. When removed from the fire, add 1 egg and 1 yolk well beaten. Mix thoroughly, and turn out on a flat dish not quite half an inch thick, and allow it to get quite cold. Then divide into fillet-shaped pieces, brush over with the beaten white of egg, toss in fine breadcrumbs, and fry in plenty of smoking-hot fat. Drain, and serve very hot, garnished with slices of lemon, and with Hollandaise sauce.

30. Mock Fish Roe.

Peel and slice 3 or 4 tomatoes, and put in a saucepan with nearly half a pint of water, and some grated onion. Cook until the tomato is soft and smooth; then sprinkle in sufficient maize meal to make the mixture fairly stiff, add pepper and salt and one heaped tablespoonful of grated cheese. Form into fillets or cutlets, and fry in the usual way.

31. Filleted Salsify.

Cook some salsify until tender, slice it into quarters lengthways, and cut it into 3-in. lengths; dip in egg and breadcrumbs, and fry crisp; serve with parsley sauce (recipe 164), and garnish with slices of lemon and parsley.

32. Mock White Fish.

Boil ½-pt. milk and thicken with rather more than 1-oz. of semolina, to make a little stiffer than for rice mould. Add a lump of butter, salt, a little grated onion and a saltspoonful of mace, and let all cook together for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Boil 3 potatoes and put through masher, and whilst hot add to the semolina or it will not set well. Pour into dish to stiffen, and when quite cold cut into slices, roll in egg and white breadcrumbs, fry crisp in Nutter and serve with parsley sauce as a fish course. The mixture must be stiff, for the frying softens the semolina again.

33. Mock Hake Steaks.

Put in a pan 3-ozs. breadcrumbs, with ½-pint of milk and a pinch of salt. Stir over a slow fire for a few minutes; then add 2-ozs. flour, the yolk of 1 egg, 3-ozs. grated cheese, 1-oz. butter, and a pinch of mace. Cook for fifteen minutes; when quite cold form into fritters, dip in egg and breadcrumbs, and fry in boiling oil till a nice golden brown. Serve with piquante sauce.