Host and Guest

by A. V. Kirwan

CHAPTER V.
HOW TO CHOOSE FISH, FLESH, FOWL, AND GAME.

Fish of all sorts is best when short, thick, well-made, bright in the scales, stiff and springy to the touch, the gills of a fresh red, and the belly not flabby. When the gills are not bright and fresh red-coloured, the fish is not eatable. Salmon, carp, tench, barbel, pike, trout, whiting, &c., when the eyes are sunk, the fins hanging, and the gills grown pale, are not good.

There is a great difference between salmon in and out of season. If eaten out of season or when stale, this fish is very unwholesome, and the same observation applies to mackerel. It should be remarked that, except in frosty weather, fish rarely keeps more than two or three days. Care should be taken to remove the intestines from fish which is meant to be kept, immediately after they are caught. This rule should be especially observed in reference to whiting, haddock, perch, &c. The livers of these fishes contain an oil, which, in very warm weather, imparts a rancid and most unpleasant taste to the fish. Soles should never be salted. Mackerel, herrings, and pilchards cannot be dressed too soon. When eaten fresh caught, they are free from that oily taste which they sometimes acquire before they are even half a day out of the water. It may also be generally remarked that neither a carp nor a red-mullet should ever be boiled.

Turbot.—Choose a turbot by its plumpness, thickness, and colour. It should be very white, fleshy, and firm. Observe whether its surface be covered with a round, swelling grain, an indication of its fine healthy condition. The moderate or even smaller size is to be preferred to the very large, which is almost always dry, tasteless, and woolly. To be good, it should be plump, and the belly of a fine, opaque, light cream-colour. If of a bluish cast, like water tinged with milk, or thin, they are not good. A turbot ought to be bled near the tail as soon as taken, or it will assume a red tinge, impairing its appearance not only in the market, but at table. If necessary, turbot will keep for two or three days, and be in as high perfection as at first, if lightly rubbed over with salt, and carefully hung in a cold place.

Skate.—The best skate are white and thick; they should be kept a day or two before you dress them, otherwise they will eat tough. The she skate is the sweeter, especially if large. Skate is best during the autumn and winter. This fish may be eaten either boiled, fried, or stewed.

There is a great difference in this fish. The flavour and fineness of the skate depend, in a considerable degree, on the locality in which it is taken. It should be broad and thick, prickly on the back, and of a beautiful creamy white. On the north-east coast of Scotland, there is a small skate of a leaden blue colour caught, which is said to be of the most delicate flavour. Care should be taken not to eat skate when out of season.

Oysters.—There are in England various species of oysters. The goodness of oysters depends, in a great measure, on the grounds or sea-beds from which they are taken; but the Colchester, Pyfleet, and Chilford, are generally esteemed superior to all others, being white and flat, yet the others may be made to possess these qualities, in some degree, by being properly fed. The large shelled oysters are never good, for even when fattened they have a strong flavour. The best oysters in Ireland are the Burren and Poldooday, the Carlingford being now extinct. In France the best are found at Cancale, Etretat, and Marennes. In Belgium the best are fished at Ostend. When alive and healthy, the shell closes on the knife. They should be eaten immediately they are opened, or the flavour will be lost. Oysters taken on muddy bottoms, generally have a disagreeable taste, and thin or shrivelled oysters which scarcely fill up their shell are, for the most part, rank and ill-favoured. Oysters taken in rivers where the waters are affected by copper mines are poisonous. This fish is never fit to be eaten if the shells open naturally. There is a fine-flavoured, delicate small oyster much in vogue at Genoa, and a green finned oyster at Venice, both of which are good. The Irish and foreign oysters possess a fresh, natural, sea-water flavour, generally wanting in the English oyster, which is frequently spoiled by too much feeding and washing. We advise all amateurs of oysters to obtain their supply direct from the boats at Billingsgate before they get into the hands of the retail dealer.

Eels.—are taken both in fresh water and the sea. The fresh-water eels are the best, and the silver eel among these should always be preferred. Buy them, if possible, alive, and in order to kill them, divide the spine just behind the head without severing it from the body. They will die almost instantaneously. The freshness of the eel, like the lobster, is known by the vivacity of its motion, and its quality by the colour of the skin.