Part 2. Chapter 3. Fish and Its Cookery

Fish contains all the elements of meat in an easily digested form; on this account it is adapted to the needs of old and young alike, and especially to sedentary people. In primitive times, when each man supplied his own larder at first hand, fish-abounding streams were chosen for the abodes of men. As peoples grew in culture and refinement their written history, both sacred and profane, contains frequent allusions to the capture, cooking, and eating of fish.

It is said that the Emperor Charles V visited the grave of the man who systematically introduced into the Netherlands the preservation of herring by salting, smoking, and drying them, as a benefactor of mankind. Lucullus, at great expense, connected a lake near Naples with the sea, in which he might keep sea-fish alive. We catch a glimpse of the life of the age in the passage of sacred history where Simon Peter says, "I go a-fishing," and we marvel at the great draft of fishes after the long night of discouragement. What reader does not experience a thrill of the satisfaction that must have been felt by those weary men on landing, at sight of the "fire of coals and fish laid thereon and bread."

On account of abundance, many varieties of fish are inexpensive.

The price even of the choicest species, barring mollusks and crustaceans, in season, is not high, when it is compared with the cost of the best cuts of meat.

Though fish has been a staple in food since the earliest times, yet the serving of fish in such form that it can be eaten with pleasure by people of delicate and aesthetic tendencies is of more recent date. This only affords additional proof that the cultivation of a people is determined by the manner in which they cook and serve their meals.

Notwithstanding all the shippers tell us of the conveniences of transportation, and of flavor preserved by keeping fish packed in ice for some days, we are inclined to be skeptical, and fear that housekeepers who dwell far inland, will not find in their markets sea-food in prime condition. In the vicinity of the Great Lakes, however, excellent whitefish and lake trout make up, in part, for this deficiency. Brook trout, than which few fish are more highly prized, are plentiful in many a mountain stream, and fresh-water lakes are destined to be stocked with the black bass and other edible fishes. Indeed, since cultivated trout can be sold at a profit, and the supply is said never to equal the demand, there would seem to be an opportunity here for a paying business venture.

Of salt-water fish, cod, haddock, and halibut, are the staples. Common mackerel appear about the first of April, the Spanish about the fifteenth of the same month. Spanish mackerel is sold at twenty-five cents per pound, the common, at so much a fish, the price depending upon the season and size of the fish. Both are very handsome. They are easily distinguished by their color and marking. Indeed, from its marking the fish takes its name, this being derived from the Latin word macula, meaning a spot. The common mackerel is usually smaller in size than the Spanish, and the dark blue above is covered with many wavy, blackish cross-streaks. The Spanish mackerel is bluish and silvery above, with bright reflections, and upon the sides are many roundish bronze spots.

The huge swordfish, from which firm slices may be cut, is in season from July to September. Bluefish abound in May, when deep-sea fishing becomes possible. Frozen salmon may be found, in the Eastern markets, during the winter and spring, but the season begins in June. Salted salmon is especially deserving of mention, for even after the salting and freshening processes have been completed, the fish is very rich, both in nitrogenous elements and in fat; it is good either boiled or broiled.

Salt codfish may be so cooked as to make a most palatable and wholesome breakfast or luncheon dish. It is comparatively easy of digestion, and is said to be particularly good for children troubled with complaints incident to hot weather. It also acts as a sedative, in cases of dyspepsia caused by fermentation.

Shad are taken at Charleston in January, at Norfolk in February, at New York near the last of March, or the first of April, and at Boston by the end of April. The fish come from the south, running up the rivers from the sea to deposit their spawn in fresh water.

The season for brook trout begins April first. They come just in time to take the place of smelts, which are then no longer seasonable. The fishery of white bait begins in April. This delicacy in fish, served at the popular clubs, is made fashionable on account of the Ministerial white bait dinner given at Greenwich just before the prorogation of Parliament. The labor involved in preparing and cooking this tiny fish is a drawback against its large consumption.