To tell fresh fish. The flesh of fresh fish is firm, and will rise quickly if pressed with the finger; the eyes are bright, and the gills red. Frozen fish may be kept for a long time, but must be used at once when thawed, as it spoils more quickly than fresh fish. Thaw frozen fish in cold water.

Care of fish. Clean it and wipe it, inside and out, with a cloth dipped in strongly salted water. Do not put steaks or cutlets of fish into the water. Lay it on a plate on cracked ice, or in a cool place. It must not be kept in an ice-box unless wrapped in two thicknesses of brown paper, or it will impart an odour to milk, butter, and other foods.

To clean a fish. Before opening it remove the scales by scraping slowly from the tail toward the head, holding the knife nearly flat on the fish. Rinse the knife frequently in cold water. Open the fish on the under side, cutting a slit from the gills half-way down the body. Remove the entrails clear to the backbone, scraping the inside if necessary.

To skin a fish. Cut a slit down the back to the tail, on both sides of the dorsal fins, deep enough to take them out. Insert a sharp-pointed knife under the skin as near the gills as possible. Holding the head by the bony part near the gills, work the knife down toward the tail.

Cooking of fish. Fish is sufficiently cooked when the flesh will easily flake away from the bones. If boiled too long, it becomes soft and watery. An acid flavour is palatable with fish, and for this reason slices of lemon or an acid sauce are often served with it.

Left-over boiled fish may be served in a variety of ways, as creamed fish, scalloped fish, fish soufflÉ, croquettes, casserole of fish, etc.

TABLE OF THE SEASONS, ETC., OF FRESH-WATER FISH

NAME OF FISH	WEIGHT	IN SEASON
Salmon	5 or 6 lbs., or more	May to Sept.
Shad	3 lbs., or more	Jan. to June
White fish	4 lbs.	Winter
Bass	3 to 8 lbs.	Always
Perch	Average 8 to a lb.	Summer
Pickerel	1 to 4 lbs.	Always
Brook Trout		Apr. to Aug.
Lake Trout	4 to 9 lbs.	Apr. to Aug.
Pike		Summer

TABLE OF SEASONS, ETC., OF SALT-WATER FISH

NAME OF FISH	WEIGHT	IN SEASON
Cod	3 to 20 lbs.	Always
Haddock	5 to 8 lbs.	Always
Black Bass	3 lbs.	Aug. to Mar.
Cusk	5 to 8 lbs.	Winter
Halibut		Always
Flounders	1/2 to 5 lbs.	Always
Red snapper	4 lbs., or more	Late winter
Bluefish	4 to 8 lbs.	June to Oct.
Tautog		July to Sept.
Sturgeon		Summer
Swordfish		July to Sept.
Weakfish	3 to 5 lbs.	Winter
Mackerel	3/4 to 2 lbs.	May to Sept.
Turbot		Jan. to Mar.
Herring	6 or 8 to a lb.	Mar. and Apr.
Smelts	Average 8 to a lb.	Sept. to Mar.
Lobsters	1 to 2 lbs.	Always
Oysters		Sept. to May
Clams		Always
Crabs		Summer

Boiled Fish

Put a three-pound fish, or three pounds of small fish, into four quarts of boiling water to which four teaspoonfuls of salt have been added. Set it at once into the cooker for one hour. Larger fish may be cooked in the same way if more water is used. For instance, a four-pound fish should be put into five or six quarts of water. Or, with large fish, put them into boiling water to cover them, let them come to a boil, and put them into the cooker for three-quarters of an hour or more, according to the size of the fish. Fish when overcooked will be watery, but will not break to pieces, unless very much overdone, if cooked in a hay-box or cooker.

Creamed Salt Codfish No. 1

• 1 lb. fish
• 3 or 4 qts. water

Wash the fish and, without shredding it, put it into the cold water, bring it to a boil, and put it into a cooker for one and one-half hours. Drain, pick into pieces, and bring to a boil in one cup of white sauce, omitting the salt. It is improved by adding a beaten egg before serving.

Serves six or seven persons.

Creamed Salt Codfish No. 2

• 1 lb. codfish
• 3 or 4 qts. water
• ¹/₄ cup butter
• 4 eggs
• ¹/₂ cup milk
• ¹/₈ teaspoon pepper

Cook the fish as for creamed salt codfish No. 1. When picked to pieces, put it into a double boiler with the butter. When this is absorbed by the fish add the remaining ingredients beaten together. Cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens like custard. Serve at once or it will curdle.

Serves six or eight persons.

Codfish Balls

• 1 cup raw salt codfish, in small pieces
• 1 heaping pint potatoes in 1-inch pieces
• 3 qts. cold water
• 1 egg
• ¹/₂ tablespoon butter
• ¹/₈ teaspoon pepper

Bring the fish and potatoes to a boil in the water. Put them into a hay-box for one and one-half hours. Drain and shake them, uncovered, over the fire to dry them as boiled potatoes, till white and mealy. Mash them thoroughly, add the other ingredients, and mix them together thoroughly. If necessary, add a little more salt. Take the mixture up by tablespoonfuls and, without moulding them, drop them into hot, deep fat. Fry until they are a rich brown, and drain them on brown paper.

To test the temperature of fat for fish balls, drop a cube of stale bread into the fat. If it grows a rich brown in forty seconds the fat is of the right temperature. If fat is too hot, fried food is injured in flavour and digestibility; if not hot enough the food will be greasy. If fish balls fall apart in the frying, it is because the fish and potatoes were not well dried before adding the other ingredients.

Serves four or six persons.

Salt Fish SoufflÉ

• 1 cup salt codfish
• 1 heaping pt. potatoes
• 3 qts. water
• 2¹/₂ tablespoons butter
• ⁷/₈ cup milk
• ¹/₈ teaspoon pepper
• 2 eggs

Cook the fish and potatoes as for codfish balls. When drained and dried, add the butter, milk, pepper, and yolks of eggs; then the whites, beaten stiff. Turn into a buttered baking-dish, and bake until puffed and brown (about one-half hour) in an insulated oven, the stones heated until the paper test shows a golden brown.

Serves eight or ten persons.

Salmon Loaf

• 1 can salmon
• ¹/₄ cup butter (melted)
• 1 cup soft breadcrumbs
• 4 eggs
• ¹/₈ teaspoon pepper
• 1¹/₂ teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 small bay leaf

If only hard, dry crumbs can be obtained, add one-fourth of a cup of water to the recipe, mixing it with the eggs, and soaking the crumbs one-half hour in the mixture.

Rub the fish and butter together, add the other ingredients, and put all into a buttered one-quart bread-mould or water-tight empty coffee or baking-powder can. Set the mould in enough cold water to reach two-thirds of the way up its sides. Let this come to a boil, boil fifteen minutes and put into the cooker for one hour. It will not be injured by remaining in the hay-box two hours. Or set the mould into boiling water, boil one-half hour, and put into the cooker for an hour.

Serves eight or ten persons.

Casserole of Fish

• 1 cup cold flaked fish
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed potatoes
• 2 hard-cooked eggs
• ¹/₈ teaspoon pepper

Butter a quart mould, put into it alternate layers of fish, potatoes, and egg; seasoning each layer. Stand the mould in a cooker-pail of boiling water to reach two-thirds of the way up its sides. Boil ten minutes and put it into the cooker for from three-quarters of an hour to two hours.

Serves six persons.

Cape Cod Turkey

• 1 lb. salt codfish
• 4 qts. cold water
• ¹/₄ lb. fat salt pork

Wash the fish and put it on the stove in the water. When boiling, put it into a cooker and let it cook from one and one-half to three hours. While this is cooking cut the pork into one-fourth inch slices, gash the slices occasionally, nearly to the rind. Pour boiling water over it, drain it, and try it out in a frying-pan till brown and crisp. When the codfish is done, drain it and garnish it with a border of the hot, crisp pork. Serve drawn-butter sauce and boiled potatoes with it.

Serves six or eight persons.

Creamed Oysters

• 1 qt. oysters
• 2 cups milk or cream
• ¹/₄ cup butter
• ¹/₄ cup flour
• ³/₄ teaspoon salt
• Few grains of white pepper

Drain and wash the oysters. Strain the liquor through cheese-cloth. Heat the oysters in the liquor by themselves and scald the milk. Rub the butter and flour together, add them to the hot milk or cream, and let it boil. Put this mixture with the boiling oysters and set it in a cooker for one-half hour or more. Just before serving add the seasoning. Serve it on toast or crisped crackers, or in croustades.

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