[260]
]CHAPTER XIV
FISH
In matters culinary, fish comprise not only the vertebrates of the sea and river, but also the esculent crustacea, mollusca, and chelonia, and one batrachian. Of course, the animals representing these various classes differ enormously in respect of their importance as articles of diet. Fresh-water fish, for instance, with the exception of salmon and some kinds of trout, are scarcely ever eaten in England; and the same applies to the frog. As regards salt-water fish, although certain species, such as the sole and the turbot, are in great demand, many other and excellent ones which are looked upon as inferior are seldom put into requisition by first-class cookery. Thus, Brill, Red Mullet, and Bass are not nearly so popular as they deserve to be, and never appear on a menu of any importance. No doubt, Fashion—ever illogical and wayward—exercises her tyrannical sway here, as in other matters of opinion; for it will be found, even when the distinctions among fish are once established, that there exist a host of incongruities in the unwritten law. Fresh cod is a case in point; should this fish appear on the menu of a grand dinner given by Royalty, the guests would not think it at all out of place; but if the chef of a large modern hotel ventured to include it among the items of a plain table-d’hôte dinner he would most probably incur the scorn and indignation of his clientèle.
This example, than which none could be better suited to our case, successfully shows that the culinary value of the fish has far less to do with the vogue the latter enjoys than the very often freakish whims of the public.
One can but deplore the arbitrary proscription which so materially reduces the resources at the disposal of a cook, more particularly at a time when the universally imperious cry is for novelty and variety in dishes and menus respectively; and one can only hope that reason and good sense may, at no remote period, intervene to check the purposeless demands of both entertainers and their guests in this respect.
[261]
]Having regard to these considerations, I have omitted from this work, which is really a thesaurus of selected recipes and not a complete formulary, all those fish enumerated below, which are very rarely eaten in England, and the recipes for which could therefore serve no purpose:—