No. 2549 — Stuffed Perch with Crayfish Sauce

Take about 3 pounds of larger perch. Clean, salt and carefully cut out the backbone. For the stuffing, bone and skin 1 pound of pike or pike-perch, pound the flesh and fry it in 1–2 tablespoons of mustard oil. Add salt, 2–4 black peppercorns, 1–2 allspice berries, a little nutmeg, a handful of chopped dill, the crumb of half a French loaf soaked in water, and a full saucer of cleaned, half-cooked, finely chopped mushrooms. Mix well.

Stuff the perch, sew them closed and boil in water previously flavoured with carrot, parsley root, celery, 2 onions, 1–2 bay leaves and the peppercorns given in the source (printed as '8–5', evidently inconsistent).

Meanwhile fry 2 tablespoons of flour in 2 tablespoons of olive or walnut oil, dilute with 2½ glasses of fish stock, boil and strain. Add the juice of half a lemon, 2–4 lumps of sugar and 20–30 cleaned crayfish tails. Bring to a boil, pour over the perch on a dish and sprinkle with herbs. Use the remaining fish stock for ukha or another fish soup.