The cult of the chafing dish

The fish of Great Britain is, beyond all manner of doubt, the very best in the world. It is, therefore, only right and proper that its original flavour should be preserved by simply boiling or frying it, and eating it with what some of the old cook-books call its " Analogies," which presumably means its traditional accompaniments : lemon, brown bread and butter, and so much as may be of its own liquor, or a Court Bouillon of the simplest. There are so many ways of spoiling fish that the Chafer can never go far wrong if he rejects all but the most primitive, although it is not necessary to revert to the aboriginal braising upon the hot ashes of a nearly extinct wood fire, without the intervention of any implement of stone or earthenware whatever. This method is, however, still in practice to-day in many parts of Portugal (and possibly elsewhere) before the doors of the houses of the wage-earners, and in the taverns of the commoner folks. Without going to extremes, there is a decent self-respecting kind of cookery, to the value and charm of which the great Car6me refers in his " Cuisinier Frangais" (1828), and which he calls, appropriately enough, k genre male et elegant. The genius of Car6me, however, occasionally led him to a state of self-appreciation which is supreme in its bathos. He says, for instance, in a kind of retrospect of his contributions to the culinary art : "I contemplated from behind my ovens the kitchens of India, China, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, and I felt their ignoble fabric of routine crumbling under my critical blows." These are, indeed, " prave 'orts ! " Herrings are extraordinarily healthy — and cheap. They are caught by the million — who also eat them ; and whether fresh or dried, raw or salted, they are one of Nature's delicacies. Fresh herrings offer the largest amount of nutriment for one penny of any kind of animal food. A fresh herring weighing 4.^ ozs. contains 240 grains ot carbon and 36 grains of nitrogen; and a dried herring weighing 3 oz. contains 269 grains of carbon and 41 grains of nitrogen. It is obvious by this what smoking will do by decreasing weight and increasing nutriment. Red herrings are by no means to be despised, though it is a mistake to imagine that they are caught in a state of redness. In that fine old book, "The Yarmouth Fisherman," which is not much read nowadays, piscator says to the tourist : " Sir, we lay ourselves out to oblige all the gents that come from London, but we cannot make a red herring swim." Thereanent is a quaint signboard outside the SchifFerhaus in the old Hanseatic town of Liibeck, one of the most beautiful taverns in the world, and the haunt of old sea-dogs since the sixteenth century. The signboard represents a fisherman and two amateurs angling from a boat ; the former has caught a fine kipper and the latter are looking supremely disgusted. The legend under the picture runs : " One Cannot Please Everybody." Kippers and their kin have never lacked admirers, and it is on record that the Emperor Charles V. made a pilgrimage to the tomb of the venerable Dutchman who is supposed to have invented pickled herrings. Fried Herrings. To come from herrings in the abstract to herrings in the concrete, try this in Chaffinda: Two very fresh herrings, very clean and dry. Fry them in three tablespoons of oil or two of butter, with a squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper, six peppercorns and a tablespoon of vinegar. After they have cooked for eight minutes put the fish aside in a hot dish.