The flesh of this species of the bulistes is only good when fried, according to Marcgrave. Columella thinks much of it,[XXI_199] and Pliny ranks it among the saxatiles, the most esteemed by connoisseurs.[XXI_200]
PILCHARD.
Among the Greeks this fish was considered only as fit for the people. Those from the environs of Phaleres were much esteemed, when left only an instant in boiling oil.[XXI_201] The Romans, who gave them the first rank among salt fish,[XXI_202] stuffed them, in order to render them better, in the following manner:—[XXI_203]
They bruised pennyroyal, cummin, pepper, mint, and pine nuts; these they mixed with honey, and with this paste they filled the anchovy, after having carefully boned them. They then wrapped them in paper,[M] and cooked them in a bain-marie, or saucepan, immersed in boiling water. They were served with oil, dregs of fish-brine, and cooked wine.[XXI_204]
LOACH.
The Greeks liked loaches,[XXI_205] but many abstained from eating them, lest the Syrian goddess, the protectress of these fishes, should gnaw their legs, cover their bodies with ulcers, and devour their liver.[XXI_206]
The inhabitants of Italy, free from this singular superstition, cleaned the loaches, left them some time in oil, then placed them in a saucepan with some more oil, garum, wine, and several bunches of rue and wild marjoram. Then these bunches were thrown away, and the fish was sprinkled with pepper at the moment of serving.[XXI_207]