d wipe it quite dry. Lay it in a
stewpan, with all the ingredients but the butter and flour, and simmer
gently for 1/2 hour, or rather more, should not the fish be quite done.
Take it out, strain the gravy, add the thickening, and stir it over a
sharp fire for 5 minutes; pour it over the trout, and serve.

_Time_.--According to size, 1/2 hour or more.

_Average cost_.--Seldom bought.

_Seasonable_ from May to September, and fatter from the middle to the
end of August than at any other time.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

Trout may be served with anchovy or caper sauce, baked in buttered
paper, or fried whole like smelts. Trout dressed a la Genevese is
extremely delicate; for this proceed the same as with salmon, No. 307.

[Illustration: THE TROUT.]

THE TROUT.--This fish, though esteemed by the moderns for its
delicacy, was little regarded by the ancients. Although it
abounded in the lakes of the Roman empire, it is generally
mentioned by writers only on account of the beauty of its
colours. About the end of September, they quit the deep water to
which they had retired during the hot weather, for the purpose
of spawning. This they always do on a gravelly bottom, or where
gravel and sand are mixed among stones, towards the end or by
the sides of streams. At this period they become black about the
head and body, and become soft and unwholesome. They are never
good when they are large with roe; but there are in all trout
rivers some barren female fish, which continue good throughout
the winter. In the common trout, the stomach is uncommonly
strong and muscular, shell-fish forming a portion of the food of
the animal; and it takes into its stomach gravel or small stones
in order to assist in comminuting it.

BOILED TURBOT.

337. INGREDIENTS.--6 oz. of salt to each gallon of water.

_Mode_--Choose a middling-sized turbot; for they are invariably the most
valuable: if very large, the meat will be tough and thready. Three or
four hours before dressing, soak the fish in salt and water to take off
the slime; then thoroughly cleanse it, and with a knife make an incision
down the middle of the back, to prevent the skin of the belly from
cracking. Rub it over with lemon, and be particular not to cut off the
fins. Lay the fish in a very clean turbot-kettle, with sufficient cold
water to cover it, and salt in the above proportion. Let it gradually
come to a bo