Fish.—Slightly salted and smoked haddocks are consumed in enormous quantities in London. Fresh or smoked, they are always a low-priced fish. There is not much to be remembered in choosing such fish, except that they should be large and thick; the smaller ones are all bone and skin. They should be scalded to draw out the salt and to make them soft, a preliminary to cooking that is often forgotten.
Perhaps nothing varies in quality and price so much as fish. It must be in season, as it is always tasteless and insipid, sometimes actually unwholesome, at other times. Fish out of season should not be bought, however cheap it seems to be. It is always in best condition just before spawning, when it is filled with roe. Afterwards it loses the store of fat, and becomes poor and watery. It must be fresh, and this is not easy of detection to the inexperienced. The smell is a guide; but fish kept on ice may not smell disagreeably, yet it may have been a long time out of the water, and as soon as it is taken from the ice it will begin to decompose, and in a few hours of warm weather will be quite uneatable. It should be bright and red about the gills and eyes, not dull and brown; but this also is an appearance that the fishmongers know how to give the fish long after nature has taken it away. It should not have been knocked about or bruised; the scales should be all there. A large fish is usually to be preferred to a small one, provided it be not old and coarse fleshed, and consequently tough, for the small contain a greater proportion of bone. The flesh should, with some few exceptions, have a bluish tinge when freshly cut. It should be firm, though not tough; but the firmness has something to do with good cookery. Salt enough to make the water like weak brine, or a little vinegar, tends to make the flesh of boiled fish firm.
In choosing any shell-fish, the great thing to be considered is the weight in proportion to size. The heavier they are the better; the lighter fish are apt to be watery. Of lobsters choose those with broadest tails. The very large lobsters, hoary with white incrustations on the shell, are often old and tough.
Cod is a winter fish, flourishing best in the coldest waters. Whitebait is brought into town each afternoon for the late dinners of fashionable London, as it loses its freshness even in a few hours, especially when the warm weather of June and July comes. Smelts when fresh are brown on the back and silvery-looking. They are not so plentiful now as in late autumn.
Monday is a dangerous day to go marketing, because perishable goods may have been kept from the Saturday before. For the same reason, on Saturday night fish may often be bought very cheap, because, though it is perfectly good at the time, it will not keep for 36 hours.
All oily fish must be perfectly fresh, and they do not generally keep long or well. Salmon trout, for instance, is said never to be eaten in perfection except by the fisherman, and many cases of poisoning with mackerel have been sufficiently severe to be noticed in the papers, while mild cases of discomfort due to that cause are known to every one. Mackerel lives but a very little time after it is taken out of the water. There are two mackerel fisheries, one in the spring and one in the autumn, and the fish are sometimes sold even in London at a very low price; in the fishing villages a score or more can be bought for a shilling. Nothing like this price is to be met with in town, but yet they are among the cheapest foods as soon as the fishing boats are in full work; and tons will be sold this month and next from barrows in the streets, often excellent fish, though they cost about a quarter of what we pay at the fishmonger’s. It should be bright and silvery looking, not bruised about the head.
Of salmon, it is usual to allow about ½ lb. for each person, if a handsome piece is wanted for boiling; less will do if a large party is to be provided for, but more is needed for a dinner of 2 or 3 persons. The middle of the fish costs more than the head and shoulders, and the tail less than either. Salmon goes farther than most kinds of fish, but only very seldom is it a cheap food. A curdy appearance between the flakes generally denotes a good fish. Turbot and the smaller species of the same genus are in prime condition. Brill is an admirable fish when chicken-turbot is not to be had. Soles are firm and white as ever. Salmon, now in splendid condition, has to endure the rivalry of the dainty trout. Towards the end of the present month shad begin to ascend the Severn and some of the rivers of France. This delicate fish is never better than when simply grilled. Eels are now in season, and may be served either as a stew, a spatchcock, or à la tartare.
Game and Poultry.—Goslings are to be found, and in the opinion of many are much more agreeable in their youthful beauty than in the mature and adipose condition of stubble-fed geese. Guinea-fowl are always good, great and small, and perhaps are best when nipped in the bud as mere eggs—a delicious morsel to a delicate palate.
Very little game is to be had, and that little consists, besides hares, of aquatic birds, woodcock, snipe, plover, widgeon, and teal, together with curlew.
Vegetables.—The vegetable market shows signs of spring. Forced cucumbers appear to keep salmon company. Spring salads take the place of winter. Artichokes from France are tolerably plentiful, and that excellent vegetable—sorrel, which forms such an agreeable addition to shad or to a fricandeau, is to be seen in our markets, although at present it finds but little favour in the sight of English cooks. Covent Garden imports sweet potatoes for the benefit of American customers, and custard-apples from the island of Madeira. New potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips are more abundant than in the preceding month. Portugal sends green peas, and imported asparagus becomes less costly.