It is very interesting to see the process of curing the
pilchards. As soon as the laden boats arrive, the fish are
carried in baskets up the steep streets of the Cornish fishing-
towns, where cellars exist devoted to this especial use ; in
these cellars semicircles are drawn on the floor, in accord-
ance with the quantity of fish brought in ; within these the
fish are piled, all the heads outwards, making a heap as
high as the fish belonging to each boat will allow, some
heaps being three, or four, or even ten times as large as
others ; then gentle pressure is applied to the mass in order
to express the oil, which runs, by means of grooves in the
stone floor, into barrels placed to receive it. After this the
fish are taken up and salted into barrels for export, the oil
also being a valuable product.
Herrings are salted at once into barrels in Ireland, and
Dublin Bay herrings are highly esteemed; but at Yarmouth
and in Scotland they are rather differently cured, some
being converted into the famous bloaters, whilst others
are split open and put into a ham pickle, and sold as
kippers, and others more heavily salted, smoked, and
dried, become the palatable red herrings, or Digby chicks.
Unfortunately, of late years many badly-cured herrings
have been placed on the London Market under the name
of Yarmouth bloaters; these consist of fish cured in London,
being those fresh herrings remaining unsold, and already a
little tainted before being salted, so that it has become
almost impossible to obtain bloaters in perfection except
in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Next to herrings, probably whiting and mackerel are
134 OUR VIANDS
the most numerous fish met with on our coasts ; but large
quantities of mackerel are now brought from Norway, as
well as cod and salmon. Cod has an immense consumption,
and during Lent many tons of salted cod may be seen in
the fishmongers' shops. This, when not too salt, and served
with plenty of egg sauce and parsnips, is not to be despised,
and is still eaten by the orthodox on Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday, as it used to be by our forefathers, although
there is great laxity in our day, and we often find fresh cod
or even salmon, substituted for the ancient Lenten dish.
We do not often see now the dry salt cod, which used to
be sold so cheaply tied up in bundles. It is probably
still consumed by sailors and fishermen, and can be
purchased at Billingsgate and other fish markets, but it has
been quite superseded by the wet fish in the fishmongers'
shops.
The red mullet, so greatly esteemed by the Romans, who
gratified their aesthetic taste by having it brought alive to
table that they might watch the lovely changing colours
produced during the death struggle, and did not object to
give from ^15 to ^60 apiece for them, according to size,
is still considered a delicacy, and is too scarce ever to
become food for the million. The same may be said of
almost all flat fish, although plaice, brill, and flounders are
usually tolerably cheap ; but soles and turbot, which may
be regarded as the kings of sea fish, remain scarce and
dear. It is related that the Emperor Domitian called the
Senate together to decide how a turbot of extraordinary
size should be cooked, and the grave senators decided that
it should be boiled, which our modern taste also approves
as the best way of cooking it.
FISH 135
Our viands
1893Page 65
Presented as published in 1893. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
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It is very interesting to see the process of curing the
pilchards. As soon as the laden boats arrive, the fish are
carried in baskets up the steep streets of the Cornish fishing-
towns, where cellars exist devoted to this especial use ; in
these cellars semicircles are drawn on the floor, in accord-
ance with the quantity of fish brought in ; within these the
fish are piled, all the heads outwards, making a heap as
high as the fish belonging to each boat will allow, some
heaps being three, or four, or even ten times as large as
others ; then gentle pressure is applied to the mass in order
to express the oil, which runs, by means of grooves in the
stone floor, into barrels placed to receive it. After this the
fish are taken up and salted into barrels for export, the oil
also being a valuable product.
Herrings are salted at once into barrels in Ireland, and
Dublin Bay herrings are highly esteemed; but at Yarmouth
and in Scotland they are rather differently cured, some
being converted into the famous bloaters, whilst others
are split open and put into a ham pickle, and sold as
kippers, and others more heavily salted, smoked, and
dried, become the palatable red herrings, or Digby chicks.
Unfortunately, of late years many badly-cured herrings
have been placed on the London Market under the name
of Yarmouth bloaters; these consist of fish cured in London,
being those fresh herrings remaining unsold, and already a
little tainted before being salted, so that it has become
almost impossible to obtain bloaters in perfection except
in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Next to herrings, probably whiting and mackerel are
134 OUR VIANDS
the most numerous fish met with on our coasts ; but large
quantities of mackerel are now brought from Norway, as
well as cod and salmon. Cod has an immense consumption,
and during Lent many tons of salted cod may be seen in
the fishmongers' shops. This, when not too salt, and served
with plenty of egg sauce and parsnips, is not to be despised,
and is still eaten by the orthodox on Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday, as it used to be by our forefathers, although
there is great laxity in our day, and we often find fresh cod
or even salmon, substituted for the ancient Lenten dish.
We do not often see now the dry salt cod, which used to
be sold so cheaply tied up in bundles. It is probably
still consumed by sailors and fishermen, and can be
purchased at Billingsgate and other fish markets, but it has
been quite superseded by the wet fish in the fishmongers'
shops.
The red mullet, so greatly esteemed by the Romans, who
gratified their aesthetic taste by having it brought alive to
table that they might watch the lovely changing colours
produced during the death struggle, and did not object to
give from ^15 to ^60 apiece for them, according to size,
is still considered a delicacy, and is too scarce ever to
become food for the million. The same may be said of
almost all flat fish, although plaice, brill, and flounders are
usually tolerably cheap ; but soles and turbot, which may
be regarded as the kings of sea fish, remain scarce and
dear. It is related that the Emperor Domitian called the
Senate together to decide how a turbot of extraordinary
size should be cooked, and the grave senators decided that
it should be boiled, which our modern taste also approves
as the best way of cooking it.
FISH 135