PIKE WITH EGG SAUCE

PIKE WITH EGG SAUCE

Clean the fish thoroughly, and wash it in hot water, wipe dry and saltinside and out. If you heat the salt it will penetrate through the meatof the fish in less time. Take a kettle, lay in it a piece of butterabout the size of an egg; cut up an onion, some celery root, parsleyroot and a few slices of lemon, lay the fish in, either whole or cut upin slices; boil in enough water to just cover the fish, and add moresalt if required, add a dozen whole peppers, black or white; season withground white pepper. Let the fish boil quickly. In the meantime beat upthe yolks of two eggs, and pound a dozen almonds to a paste, add to thebeaten yolks, together with a tablespoon of cold water. When done removethe fish to a large platter; but to ascertain whether the fish hascooked long enough, take hold of the fins, if they come out readily yourfish has cooked enough. Strain the sauce through a sieve, taking out theslices of lemon and with them garnish the top of the fish; add thestrained sauce to the beaten eggs, stirring constantly as you do so;then return the sauce to the kettle, and stir until it boils, removequickly and pour it over the fish. When it is cold garnish with curlyparsley.