“ In the selection of fish, make sure that the eyes
are full, the gills bright red, and the flesh firm and
stiff. If the flesh is flabby, the eyes sunken, and
the gills of a dark color, the fish is stale. They
should be thoroughly cleaned when first procured,
and washed in just sufficient water to cleanse them.
If much water is used, the flavor will be diminished.
Sprinkle salt in the inside, and if they are to be
broiled, add pepper. Keep them in a cool place till
you wish to cook them. Fresh-water fish are apt to
have an earthy taste, which may be removed by soak-
ing them in salt and water after cleaning. Most
kinds of salt fish should be soaked in cold water ten
or twelve hours before cooking.
“ Flat fish, as a rule, keep better than round.
They should be chosen for their thickness rather
than for their size.”
CHAPTER VI.
POULTRY.
POULTRY.
SAM LAWSON AND HIS TURKEY.
“ There, to be sure,” said Aunt Lois, one day when our prepara-
tions were in full blast, “there comes Sam Lawson down the hill,
limpsy as ever ; now he’ll have his doleful story to tell, and mother’ll
give him one of the turkeys.”
And so, of course, it fell out. Sam came in with his usual air of
plaintive assurance, and seated himself a contemplative spectator in
the chimney-corner, regardless of the looks and signs of unwelcome
on the part of Aunt Lois.
“ Lordy massy, how prosperous every thing does seem here ! ” he
said in musing tones, over his inevitable mug of cider; “so different
from what ’tis t’ our home. There’s Hepsy, she’s all in a stew, an’
I’ve just been an’ got her thirty-seven cents wuth o’ nutmegs, yet she
says she’s sure she don’t see how she’s to keep Thanksgiving, an’
she’s down on me about it, just as ef ’twas my fault. Yeh see, last
winter, our old gobbler got froze. You know, Mis’ Badger, that ’ere
cold night we had last winter. Wal, I was off with Jake Marshall
that night : ye see, Jake, he hed to take old Gen. Dearborn’s corpse
into Boston, to the family vault, an’ Jake, he kind o’ hated to go
alone. ’Twas a drefful cold time, an’ he ses to me, ‘ Sam, you jes’ go
’long with me.’ So I was sort o’ sorry for him, an’ I kind o’ thought
I’d go ’long. Wal, come ’long to Josh Bissel’s tahvern, there at the
Half-way House, you know, ’twas so swinging cold, we stopped to
take a little suthin’ warmin’, an’ we sort o’ sot an’ sot over the fire, till,
first we knew, we kind o’ got asleep; an’ when we woke up, we found
we’d left the old general hitched up t’ th’ post pretty much all night.
Wal, didn’t hurt him none, poor man; ’twas allers a favorite spot o’
his’n. But, talcin’ one thing with another, I didn’t get home till about
noon next day, an’ I tell you, Hepsy, she was right down on me. She
said the baby was sick, an’ there hadn’t been no wood split, nor the
barn fastened up, nor nothin’ ! Lordy massy, I didn’t mean no harm.
I thought there was wood enough, an’ I thought likely Hepsy’d git
out an’ fasten up the barn. But Hepsy, she was in one o’ her con-
trary streaks, an’ she wouldn’t do a thing. An’ when I went out to
look, why, sure ’nuff, there was our old tom-turkey froze as stiff as
a stake, — his claws jist a-sticlcin’ right straight up like this.” Here
Sam struck an expressive attitude, and looked so much like a frozen
turkey, as to give a pathetic reality to the picture.
Page 23
Presented as published in 1887. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
“ In the selection of fish, make sure that the eyes are full, the gills bright red, and the flesh firm and stiff. If the flesh is flabby, the eyes sunken, and the gills of a dark color, the fish is stale. They should be thoroughly cleaned when first procured, and washed in just sufficient water to cleanse them. If much water is used, the flavor will be diminished. Sprinkle salt in the inside, and if they are to be broiled, add pepper. Keep them in a cool place till you wish to cook them. Fresh-water fish are apt to have an earthy taste, which may be removed by soaking them in salt and water after cleaning. Most kinds of salt fish should be soaked in cold water ten or twelve hours before cooking.
“ Flat fish, as a rule, keep better than round. They should be chosen for their thickness rather than for their size.”
CHAPTER VI.
POULTRY.
POULTRY.
SAM LAWSON AND HIS TURKEY.
“ There, to be sure,” said Aunt Lois, one day when our preparations were in full blast, “there comes Sam Lawson down the hill, limpsy as ever ; now he’ll have his doleful story to tell, and mother’ll give him one of the turkeys.”
And so, of course, it fell out. Sam came in with his usual air of plaintive assurance, and seated himself a contemplative spectator in the chimney-corner, regardless of the looks and signs of unwelcome on the part of Aunt Lois.
“ Lordy massy, how prosperous every thing does seem here ! ” he said in musing tones, over his inevitable mug of cider; “so different from what ’tis t’ our home. There’s Hepsy, she’s all in a stew, an’ I’ve just been an’ got her thirty-seven cents wuth o’ nutmegs, yet she says she’s sure she don’t see how she’s to keep Thanksgiving, an’ she’s down on me about it, just as ef ’twas my fault. Yeh see, last winter, our old gobbler got froze. You know, Mis’ Badger, that ’ere cold night we had last winter. Wal, I was off with Jake Marshall that night : ye see, Jake, he hed to take old Gen. Dearborn’s corpse into Boston, to the family vault, an’ Jake, he kind o’ hated to go alone. ’Twas a drefful cold time, an’ he ses to me, ‘ Sam, you jes’ go ’long with me.’ So I was sort o’ sorry for him, an’ I kind o’ thought I’d go ’long. Wal, come ’long to Josh Bissel’s tahvern, there at the Half-way House, you know, ’twas so swinging cold, we stopped to take a little suthin’ warmin’, an’ we sort o’ sot an’ sot over the fire, till, first we knew, we kind o’ got asleep; an’ when we woke up, we found we’d left the old general hitched up t’ th’ post pretty much all night. Wal, didn’t hurt him none, poor man; ’twas allers a favorite spot o’ his’n. But, talcin’ one thing with another, I didn’t get home till about noon next day, an’ I tell you, Hepsy, she was right down on me. She said the baby was sick, an’ there hadn’t been no wood split, nor the barn fastened up, nor nothin’ ! Lordy massy, I didn’t mean no harm. I thought there was wood enough, an’ I thought likely Hepsy’d git out an’ fasten up the barn. But Hepsy, she was in one o’ her contrary streaks, an’ she wouldn’t do a thing. An’ when I went out to look, why, sure ’nuff, there was our old tom-turkey froze as stiff as a stake, — his claws jist a-sticlcin’ right straight up like this.” Here Sam struck an expressive attitude, and looked so much like a frozen turkey, as to give a pathetic reality to the picture.