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Classic
Cook Books
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page 199
open the oyster is dead, and only fit to be thrown away Small plump varieties
are always preferable to the larger and coarser kinds.
To clean Fish. Let this be done always with the most scrupulous nicety, for
nothing can more effectually destroy the appetite than fish sent to the table
imperfectly cleaned. Handle it lightly, and never throw it roughly about, so as
to bruise it; wash it well, hut do not leave it longer in the water than is
necessary, for fish, like meat, loses it flavor from being soaked. When scales
are to be removed, lay the fish Hat upon its side, and hold it firmly with the
left hand, while they are scraped off with the right; turn it, and when both
sides are done, pour or pump sufficient water over it to float off all the loose
scales; then proceed to open and empty it. lie sure that not the slightest
particle of offensive matter be left in the inside, wash out the blood entirely,
and scrape or brush it away, if needful from the back-bone. This may be easily
accomplished without opening the fish .so much as to render it unsightly when it
is sent to the table. The red mullet is dressed without being emptied, and
smelts are drawn at the gills. Whoa the scales are left on, the outside of the
fish should be well washed and wiped with a coarse towel, drawn gently from the
head to the tail. Eels, to be wholesome, should be skinned, but they are
sometimes dressed without; boiling water should then he poured upon them, and
they should be left in it for five or ten minutes, before they are cut up. The
dark skin of the sole--must be stripped off when it is fried, but it must he
left on, like that of the turbot, when the fish is boiled, and it should be
dished with the white side upwards Whitings are skinned, and dipped usually into
egg and bread crumbs when they are to be fried; but lor boiling or broiling, the
skin must he left on.
To keep Fish. All the smaller kinds of fish keep best if emptied and cleaned as
soon as they are brought in, then wiped gently as dry as they can be and hung
separately by the head on the hooks in the ceiling of a cool larder, or in the
open air when the weather will allow. When there is danger of their being
attacked by flies a wire safe placed m a strong draught of air, is better
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Classic
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