Separate three eggs, beat the yolks, and add one cup of soup stock, one-fourth teaspoon of salt, then add the beaten whites.  Pour into a greased cup and place in pan of hot water and steam until firm; cool, remove from cup and cut into small dumplings with a teaspoon; pour the boiling soup over and just before serving add chopped parsley.

FISH

Fish that is not fresh is a very dangerous food and great care should be taken in selecting only fish fit to eat.  If the fish is hard in body and the eyes are clear and bright, the gills a bright red and slimy, the flesh so firm that when pressed the marks of the fingers do not remain, the scales not dry or easy to loosen, then the fish is fresh.

In the refrigerator fish will taint butter and other foods if placed in the same compartment, so that in most cases it is better to lay it on a plate on a pan of ice, or wrap it in parchment or waxed paper and put it in the ice box.

Pickerel weighing more than five pounds should not be bought.  If belly is thick it is likely that there is another fish inside.  This smaller fish or any found in any other fish may not be used as food.

Salt fish should be soaked in fresh water, skin side up, to draw out the salt.

Each fish is at its best in its season, for instance:—­

Bluefish, Butterfish, Sea, Striped Bass, Porgies, Sea-trout or Weakfish are best from April to September.

Fluke and Flounders are good all year round, but the fluke is better than the flounder in summer.  Carp may be had all year, but care must be taken that it has not been in polluted water.

Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Redsnapper, Salmon, Whitefish are good all year.

In the different states of the United States there are laws governing the fishing for trout, so the season for that fish differs in the various states.

Black Bass, Perch, Pickerel and Pike are in season from June 1st to December 1st.

Shad, April to June.

Smelts, November 10th to April.

TO CLEAN FISH

The fish may be cleaned at the market, but needs to be looked over carefully before cooking.

To remove the scales hold the fish by the tail and scrape firmly toward the head with a small sharp knife, held with the blade slanting toward the tail.  Scrape slowly so that the scales will not fly, and rinse the knife frequently in cold water.  If the fish is to be served whole, leave the head and tail on and trim the fins; otherwise remove them.

TO OPEN FISH

To open small fish cut under the gills and squeeze out the contents by pressing upward from the middle with the thumb and finger.  To open large fish split them from the gills halfway down the body toward the tail; remove the entrails and scrape and clean, opening far enough to remove all the blood from the backbone, and wiping the inside thoroughly with a cloth wrung out of cold, salted water.