From:
The Thorough Good Cook
Fish: 2. Fish Forcemeat, or Quenelles.
Take dressed or undressed
fish of any sort, chop it fine, and beat it well in a mortar with the yolks of some hard-boiled eggs; then add an equal quantity of bread-crumbs soaked in hot
milk and well drained, with as much fresh butter as
forcemeat. Next, a little
salt, grated
nutmeg, the yolks of three or four eggs, one by one, and a little chopped
parsley. Beat the whites of the eggs to
snow, taking one white less than you have yolks. This forcemeat may be used to stuff anything you please, or to make
quenelles for soup. Take a
teaspoon, or a dessertspoon, according to the size you wish the balls to be, fill this with forcemeat, shape it with a
knife dipped in warm water, so that the upper side has the same
form as that in the
spoon; take it out with another spoon dipped in water, and put it on a
paper well buttered. When you have made them all, slip the paper gently into the
saucepan of soup; as soon as they are detached, withdraw the paper; they must have plenty of room to swim in. If you have no soup, boil them in water, with a little piece of butter and salt, for ten minutes over a gentle fire. They may be used to
garnish dishes, or you may roll them in flour or bread-crumbs and fry them; but flour injures their delicacy.