Host and Guest

by A. V. Kirwan

Ling.—It is to be regretted that the ling, one of the finest fishes of the cod tribe, is not oftener brought to Billingsgate Market. It may be eaten fresh or salted, and will well bear transport fresh in the winter season from Cornwall to London. Like the cod, the ling has a fine sound, which may be dressed with the fish or salted. Ling varies in colour according to the bank it inhabits. When in good order, the ling is thick about the poll. The whiteness of the liver indicates the good condition of the fish. When out of season the liver is red.

Smelts.—if good, have a fine silvery hue, are very firm, and have a refreshing smell like cucumbers newly cut. They are caught in the Thames, and some other large rivers, and should be eaten within twenty-four hours after being taken.

Salmon.—If new, the flesh is of a fine red (the gills particularly), the scales bright, and the whole fish stiff. When just killed, there is a whiteness between the flakes, which gives great firmness; by keeping, this melts down, and the fish is more rich. The Thames and Chudchurch salmon bear the highest price; that caught in the Severn is next in goodness, and is even preferred by some. The best have small heads and are thick in the neck. Look also for a roundness and breadth over the back, and thickness down to the tail-fin. The upper part of the back red and dark-coloured.

Flounders.—They should be thick, firm, and have their eyes bright. They very soon become flabby and bad. They are both a sea and a river fish. The Thames produces the best. They are in season from January to March, and from July to September. Flounders differ much in quality. There is a flounder with scarlet spots, a very good fish to look at, but which is coarse and woolly in the grain. The best flounders are of a sober greyish colour.

Whitings.—Always buy whitings fresh. Having gutted them, you can keep them two or three days in a cool place in the winter months. Never purchase uncleaned whiting unless it be perfectly fresh out of the water. The firmness of the body and fins is to be looked to, as in herrings; their high season is during the first three months of the year, but they may be had a great part of it. Whiting is one of the most wholesome of fish, and is so light that physicians recommend it to invalids when more solid nutriment is forbidden. The largest whiting are taken off the coasts of Devon and Cornwall. They are in highest season from Michaelmas to February, shortly after which they begin to cast their spawn. They are again fit for the table by the latter end of May or the beginning of June.

It is not easy to distinguish the whiting from the codlin, but it is very necessary to be able to do so, as fishmongers have an ugly trick of substituting the one for the other. The codlin, however, has a beard, while the whiting is smooth.

Cod.—Cod, skate, maids, and thornback should be in a state fit to crimp, and are so when the fish rises again on being pressed with the finger. There are sixteen different species of cod taken on our coasts; but the most esteemed is the Dogger Bank cod.

This fish is best when thick towards the head, with a deep pit just behind it, and the flesh cuts white and clear. The fish should be perfectly stiff. This affords a proof of its freshness, and of its eating firm. The gills should be very red, and the eyes fresh and bright; when flabby they are not good. Cod is invariably good, when the weather is cold, dry, and frosty; and it is in primest season during the periods London fashionables dine by candle-light—namely, from November to March. The larger cod, if in good order, are generally the firmer and better flavoured fish. The smaller cod-fish are, for the most part, flabby and watery, though these defects may be in a measure removed, by sprinkling salt over the fish, a few days before it is cooked.

Sturgeon.—when good, has a fine blue in its veins and gristle; a brown or yellowish cast in these parts denote a bad fish; if kept too long this fish has a disagreeable taint. The flesh must be perfectly white, and must cut without crumbling.

It is from the roe of the sturgeon that the caviare is composed, though it is sometimes made of the spawn of the grey carp, or the hard roe of the grey mullet.