A handbook of fish cookery

insipid in flavour, and are best for filleting. They vary in price, but are never a cheap fish. Halibut is an excellent substitute for turbot, which it rather resembless in flavour, and is a comparatively cheap fish. It is abundant in spring and summertime, and always a favourite with Jewish people. Being a very large fish, it is rarely sold entire. The choice bits are the flackers over the fins and the pickings about the head. A fillet or steak" is the most profitable portion for general eating. Cod is at its best about Christmas time. From the end of January to March it is less good and not abundant ; in May again it is generally very fine. The best are those which are plump and round at the tail, the sides having a slightly ribbed appearance, with yellow spots on a clear skin. Large cod are not generally cooked whole, being so much thicker at the head than at the tail. The head and shoulders, usually sold apart, form a handsome dish. It is a very nourishing fish, valuable in many ways, and if its adaptabilities were more understood it would be more generally appreciated. The salmon has been called the king of fresh-water fish/^ yet, as before remarked, it does not belong to this category. The river is its birthplace, it is true, but the sea is its pasture ground, where it returns periodically to renew its strength. It inhabits fresh and salt water alternately, spending its summer in the river and its winter in the sea. Just as the swallow returns again to the same roof which sheltered it, so the salmon returns again to the same river. This fact has been taken advantage of to naturalise salmon in rivers where formerly there were no signs of them. No stranger salmon cruising along the coast will mistake another river's mouth for the mouth of its own river. The flesh is rich and delicious in flavour, and to be eaten in perfection it should be dressed as soon as caught ; there will then be found between the flakes a creamy-white substance called " curd," which is highly esteemed by the epicure. Nevertheless, it is then highly indigestible ; to be perfectly whole- some eating the salmon should be kept twenty-four hours, then the curd solidifies, and though perhaps less delicate in flavour, it is richer and far less likely to disagree. In season from February to August ; it is at its cheapest in July and August. Salmon trout, though resembling salmon in flavour and appearance, are really not at all the same species. They rarely exceed two to three pounds in weight — generally they are but three-quarters of a pound. They are justly regarded as a great delicacy, and are at their best in spring and early summer. The flesh is sometimes white, sometimes red ; the latter is the most prized. When choosing salmon trout examine the inside of the throat through the gills. If this is very red the flesh will prove to be red, though not so red as salmon. There are two or three kinds of trout : common, sea, and white trout. Sea trout reaches a good size, white trout never does. River trout are most delicious and highly esteemed ; the most delicate in flavour are those which weigh from threequarters to one pound. Trout, which is in season from May to September, is in perfection in June.