ADDENDUM AND ANECDOTE.
It will be seen, from the number and variety of the recipes which we have been enabled to give under the head of FISH, that there exists in the salt ocean, and fresh-water rivers, an abundance of aliment, which the present state of gastronomic art enables the cook to introduce to the table in the most agreeable forms, and oftentimes at a very moderate cost.
Less nutritious as a food than the flesh of animals, more succulent than vegetables, fish may be termed a middle dish, suited to all temperaments and constitutions; and one which those who are recovering from illness may partake of with safety and advantage.
As to which is the best fish, there has been much discussion. The old Latin proverb, however, de gustibus non disputandum, and the more modern Spanish one, sobre los gustos no hai disputa, declare, with equal force, that where taste is concerned, no decision can be arrived at. Each person's palate may be differently affected—pleased or displeased; and there is no standard by which to judge why a red mullet, a sole, or a turbot, should be better or worse than a salmon, trout, pike, or a tiny tench.
Fish, as we have explained, is less nourishing than meat; for it is lighter in weight, size for size, and contains no ozmazome (see No. 100). Shell-fish, oysters particularly, furnish but little nutriment; and this is the reason why so many of the latter can be eaten without injury to the system.
In Brillat Savarin's [Footnote: Brillat Savarin was a French lawyer and judge of considerable eminence and great talents, and wrote, under the above title, a book on gastronomy, full of instructive information, enlivened with a fund of pleasantly-told anecdote.] clever and amusing volume, "The Physiology of Taste," he says, that towards the end of the eighteenth century it was a most common thing for a well-arranged entertainment in Paris to commence with oysters, and that many guests were not contented without swallowing twelve dozen. Being anxious to know the weight of this advanced-guard, he ascertained that a dozen oysters, fluid included, weighed 4 ounces,—thus, the twelve dozen would weigh about 3 lbs.; and there can be no doubt, that the same persons who made no worse a dinner on account of having partaken of the oysters, would have been completely satisfied if they had eaten the same weight of chicken or mutton. An anecdote, perfectly well authenticated, is narrated of a French gentleman (M. Laperte), residing at Versailles, who was extravagantly fond of oysters, declaring he never had enough. Savarin resolved to procure him the satisfaction, and gave him an invitation to dinner, which was duly accepted. The guest arrived, and his host kept company with him in swallowing the delicious bivalves up to the tenth dozen, when, exhausted, he gave up, and let M. Laperte go on alone. This gentleman managed to eat thirty-two dozen within an hour, and would doubtless have got through more, but the person who opened them is described as not being very skilful. In the interim Savarin was idle, and at length, tired with his painful state of inaction, he said to Laperte, whilst the latter was still in full career, "Mon cher, you will not eat as many oysters to-day as you meant; let us dine." They dined, and the insatiable oyster-eater acted at the repast as if he had fasted for a week.
FISH CARVING.
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR CARVING FISH.
In carving fish, care should be taken to help it in perfect flakes, as, if these are broken, the beauty of the fish is lost. The carver should be acquainted, too, with the choicest parts and morsels; and to give each guest an equal share of these titbits should be his maxim. Steel knives and forks should on no account be used in helping fish, as these are liable to impart to it a very disagreeable flavour. Where silver fish-carvers are considered too dear to be bought, good electro-plated ones answer very well, and are inexpensive. The prices set down for them by Messrs. Slack, of the Strand, are from a guinea upwards.