Cassell's dictionary of cookery

The principal seats of the pilchard fishery are St. Ives, Mount's Bay, and Mevagissey. The fish are captured either by scans or by drift-nets. A scan is a net 200 or 300 fathoms long, and over ten feet deep, having cork buoys on one edge and lead weights on the other. Whenever the fish are brought on shore they are carried to cellars or warehouses, and piled in large heaps, a sufficient quantity of salt being placed between the layers. After remaining in this state for about thirty-five days they are carefully washed and cleaned, and then packed in hogsheads, containing on an average 2,600 fish. They are then pressed, so as to extract the oil, of which each hogshead yields about three gallons, provided the fish be caught in summer. Those taken late in the season do not yield above a gallon and a half. The fresh fish in a hogshead of pilchards weigh about six hundredweight, and the salt about six hundred- weight and a half ; the weight of the hogshead, however, when cured and pressed, is reduced to about four and a half hundred-weight, including the weight of the cask, which ranges from twenty to twenty-four pounds. The quantity of pilchards taken at one time is sometimes extraordinary. Mr. Yavul, in 1841, mentions that an instance has been known where 10,000 hogsheads have been taken in one port in a single day, thus providing the enormous multitude of over 25,000,000 of Living creatures drawn at once from the ocean for human sustenance. Pilchards are not used in England except in Devon and Cornwall. They are principally exported, and are largely consumed in some parts of the continent during the season of Lent. The taste of the pilchard is very like that of the herring, but it is more oily. Even after much of the oil has been removed by pressure, it is still as rich as could be wished. THE PILCHARD. Pilchard and Leek Pie (a Devonshire dish). — Trim off the coarser leaves from four or five large leeks. Cut the white part only into equal lengths, and scald these in salted water. Lay them in a pie-dish, the edges of which are lined with plain pastry, put between the layers f om- salted pilchards which have been laid in cold water the previous day to soaki and put on the PIL (573) PIN cover. Bake in a moderate oven. When the pie is done enough, lift up the cover, drain off the gravy, and put in its place a cupful of boiling cream. Time to bake the pic, forty minutes or more. Probable coat, uncertain. Sufficient for five or six persons. Pilchards, Cooking of.— Pilchards are very oily, and quickly deteriorate in quality, so that they are not often sent uncured to any great distance from the place where they are caught. They may be dressed according to the directions given for herrings. They may be distinguished from the herring by the fact that the fin is exactly in the middle of the back, whilst in the herring it is nearer the tail. Probable cost, uncertain. Pimento, Allspice, or Jamaica Pepper.— The tree from which the fruit producing this spice is obtained is a native of the West Indies. It is cultivated, however, almost exclusively in Jamaica, thus giving rise to the name Jamaica pepper. The designation all-