The curiosities of food

by P. L. Simmonds

We know that fish liver contains an enormous quantity of oil; that fish oil is an important article of commerce, and fish liver oil is a valuable medicine; but we know beside, that these oils, in a corrupt state, are active poisons. Hence, we may infer that the liver is a great operator in the injury done by the deleterious fishes, and if we but knew all the genera in which the gall bladder is wanting, we might arrive at some rule for estimating the possible development of those prejudicial fluids that mingle from the liver with fish-flesh in cooking.

We must not overlook, when speaking of fish-liver, the adventure of Tobias and the Angel at the River Tigris, in chap. vi. of the Apocryphal Tobit. The heart and liver of the fish they took were a charm against evil spirits, and the gall was a salve for blind eyes; the one was used successfully in the nuptial chamber of Sarah, the daughter of Ragual, and the other as an ointment in restoring the sight of the blind Tobit. The two incidents are thus related. Ch. viii.—‘Tobias took the ashes of the perfumes, and put the heart and the liver of the fish thereupon, and made a smoke therewith—the which smell when the evil spirit had smelled, he fled into the utmost parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him.’ Ch. xi.—‘Tobit stumbled, and his Son Tobias ran unto him, and strake of the gall on his Father’s eyes, and when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them, and the whiteness pilled away from the corners of his eyes.’

There are but few natural orders of fishes—and they divide themselves for the purposes of our enquiry chiefly into the Acanthopterygii, or those that possess bony skeletons, with prickly, spinous processes on the dorsal fins, such as the perch, the mullet, and the gurnard; the Malacopterygii, or soft-finned fishes, including the carp, the salmon, &c.; and the Chondropterygii, with cartilaginous spines and bones, embracing such fish as the sturgeon, shark, and skate. Instead of describing or specifying them in consecutive order, it will perhaps be better to take a glance at the fishes of different seas, at least, as far as they are held in any repute as food. Many of the most common must, however, be passed over without notice.

It is strange how little attention, (comparatively speaking,) is paid even to our coast fisheries, and especially those of our colonies. Fisheries have been called the agriculture of the sea. Raleigh attributes the wealth and power of Holland, not to its commerce or carrying trade, but to its fisheries. Mirabeau was of the like opinion; De Witt held the same; and Franklin seemed to prefer the fisheries of America to agriculture itself. A great nursery of the marine is by this means best supported, from whence a constant supply of men, inured to the perils of the sea and the inclemency of the weather, is always ready for the maritime service of their country. Fishing has been celebrated from the earliest times, as being the prelude, and if I may be allowed the expression, the apprenticeship of navigation; offering, from the line to the harpoon, more amusement with less fatigue than perhaps any other species of pursuit, and occupying the smallest boat up to ships of great burthen; thus drawing forth the means of subsistence and profit to an infinite number of persons.

The ocean fish are generally very dry eating.

In eating the flesh of the bonito, it is necessary to lard it well, as its flesh is very dry.

The flesh of the tunny of the Atlantic is something like veal, but dryer and more firm.

That of the dolphin was formerly held in great esteem. It is also, however, very dry and insipid; the best parts are those near the head. It is seldom eaten now at sea, except when the fish caught happens to be young and tender.

In the Maldive Islands, the bonito is preserved in the following manner:—

The back bone is taken out, the fish laid in the shade, and occasionally sprinkled with sea water. After a certain period has elapsed, the fish is wrapped up in cocoa-nut leaves, and buried in sand, where it becomes hard. Fish thus prepared is known in Ceylon, and perhaps over all India, by the name of cummelmums. The pieces of this fish brought to the market have a horny hardness. It is rasped upon rice to render it savoury.