the mackerel are ready for the
table, put some of this into each fish.

_Mackerel baked._[184-*]--(No. 170.)

Cut off their heads, open them, and take out the roes and clean them
thoroughly; rub them on the inside with a little pepper and salt, put
the roes in again, season them (with a mixture of powdered allspice,
black pepper, and salt, well rubbed together), and lay them close in a
baking-pan, cover them with equal quantities of cold vinegar and water,
tie them down with strong white paper doubled, and bake them for an
hour in a slow oven. They will keep for a fortnight.

_Pickled Mackerel, Herrings, or Sprats._--(No. 171.)

Procure them as fresh as possible, split them, take off the heads, and
trim off the thin part of the belly, put them into salt and water for
one hour, drain and wipe your fish, and put them into jars or casks,
with the following preparation, which is enough for three dozen
mackerel. Take salt and bay-salt, one pound each, saltpetre and
lump-sugar, two ounces each; grind and pound the salt, &c. well
together, put the fish into jars or casks, with a layer of the
preparation at the bottom, then a layer of mackerel with the skin-side
downwards, so continue alternately till the cask or jar is full; press
it down and cover it close. In about three months they will be fit for
use.

_Sprats broiled._--(No. 170*--_Fried_, see No. 173.)

If you have not a sprat gridiron, get a piece of pointed iron wire as
thick as packthread, and as long as your gridiron is broad; run this
through the heads of your sprats, sprinkle a little flour and salt over
them, put your gridiron over a clear, quick fire, turn them in about a
couple of minutes; when the other side is brown, draw out the wire, and
send up the fish with melted butter in a cup.

_Obs._ That sprats are young herrings, is evident by their anatomy, in
which there is no perceptible difference. They appear very soon after
the herrings are gone, and seem to be the spawn just vivified.

_Sprats stewed._--(No. 170**.)

Wash and dry your sprats, and lay them as level as you can in a
stew-pan, and between every layer of sprats put three peppercorns, and
as many allspice, with a few grains of salt; barely cover them with
vinegar, and stew them one hour over a slow fire; they must not boil: a
bay-leaf is sometimes added. Herrings or mackerel may be stewed the same
way.

To fry sprats, see No. 173.

_Herrings broiled._--(No. 171*.)

Wash th