To Dress Whitebait

Ingredients

• A little flour
• hot lard
• seasoning of salt

Instructions

1. This fish should be put into iced water as soon as bought, unless they are cooked immediately.
2. Drain them from the water in a colander, and have ready a nice clean dry cloth, over which put 2 good handfuls of flour.
3. Toss in the whitebait, shake them lightly in the cloth, and put them in a wicker sieve to take away the superfluous flour.
4. Throw them into a pan of boiling lard, very few at a time, and let them fry till of a whitey-brown colour.
5. Directly they are done, they must he taken out, and laid before the fire for a minute or two on a sieve reversed, covered with blotting-paper to absorb the fat.
6. Dish them on a hot napkin, arrange the fish very high in the centre, and sprinkle a little salt over the whole.