The spirit of cookery

There are many anecdotal records of matters connected with fish, which show the appreciation given to it by wealthy persons, such as Lucullus, who had a lake near Naples put into communication with the sea in order to be able to preserve marine fish in it ; on account of the cutting of an isthmus, Pompey termed him the Xerxes in the * To encabeach (cabeach) is a term now probably confined to the curing of anchovies. Hamilton and Smith have ‘sardines,’ which is misleading. Anchovies are never preserved in oil, sardines mostly. Moreover, they are different species of fish. BOILIXC OF SALT-WATER OR SEA FISH toga. In the neighbourhood of this place, where Lucullus carried out this feat, stands a monument known in archaeology as the temple of Serapis, remarkable in geological science as a supposed means of proving the repeated raising and sinking of the territory on which it stands, under the influence of volcanic action. These ruins are now supposed to be the remains of a piscina, or fish-preserving pond ; and from a consideration of all the arguments advanced in this discussion, some are inclined to accede to the latest interpretation. All housekeepers and cooks should be acquainted with the proper seasons for the use of fish, and the times during which this kind of food is unseasonable. Some Grimsby firms publish lists containing all necessary information on this subject, and to such circulars we would refer our readers. Fish may be prepared in the kitchen for being eaten by boiling in water or broth, by baking in an oven, by broiling before a fire, by frying in fat in a pan, by stewing in a compound sauce with vegetables, and by braising under similar conditions. All other forms of preparations are mere variations of these principal processes. We therefore confine ourselves to a survey of the principles of the main processes only. The Boiling of Fish,. — It is necessary that all fish before being eaten should be heated up in some way to a temperature at which all germs of a vegetable or animal nature which may be living in fish are dead. This is the first rule of safety in the consumption of fish, and must be enforced with regard to them as vigorously as with regard to veal or pork, and for similar reasons ; for it has been proved that several varieties of fish harbour in their flesh the young forms of certain parasites, which, when they escape being killed by the process of cooking, and are eaten by man, develop in his intestine into the adult form of the parasite, and cause serious illness and long-continued disturbance. Thus, the early form of the Botryocei)hahis latus, and perhaps other varieties of the species, live in the flesh of the 2)ike or jacl-, and are imported into man probably by its agency. This parasite is endemic in Northern Eussia, in Switzerland, and the South of France. The parasites of sea-water fish are more injurious to the piscivorous animals, including fishes devouring their own kind, than to man, but, nevertheless, should be guarded against by all means. This is the more easy as the rule for safety coincides with the desire for good taste of the fish. All fish must be cooked in some way before it is eatable (we do not at present speak of shellfish), and of all modes of cooking, boiling is the easiest and most certain in effect.