_General Rules for choosing it._
(_The price of fish depends on the supply; and it will often be found,
that one kind of fish, equally as good and seasonable as another, may
be bought for much less money; therefore, never buy at an extravagant
price._)
When fish is fresh, it is firm, bright, and stiff; the gills are of
a lively red, hard to open, and smell sweet; and the eyes are full
and clear. If stale, the whole fish, and particularly the gills and
fins, will always be flabby and limber, the gills will be pale,
and the eyes sunk and dull. By these rules alone, good fish may be
distinguished from bad; but besides these, some kinds of fish have
other distinguishing peculiarities, which are as follow; viz.
STURGEON.—The grain of the flesh of a fine Sturgeon is smooth and very
white, interspersed with blue veins. The skin is soft and tender, and
its smell is very pleasant. When the veins and gristles are brown or
yellow, instead of blue, or the skin is hard and dry, the fish is not
good.
CAVIARE.—This is the roe of the female Sturgeon. It should be taken out
and beaten flat, then sprinkled with salt and dried, first in the sun
and air, and afterwards in an oven, till it becomes very dry and of a
reddish brown colour. Thus prepared, it is a fine relish; it is to be
eaten with oil and vinegar.
TURBOT, when good, is thick, firm, and plump; and the nose, and fins
all round the belly, tinged with a pink colour; but if it has lost this
beautiful tinge, or if the belly be changed from a yellowish white to a
blueish cast, the fish is either stale or poor, or both.
SOLES are to be chosen by these rules, particularly as to the pink
tinge round their bellies and under their noses.
COD FISH should be thick at the neck, having the gills red, the flesh
very white, firm, hard, and dear, and the eyes bright.
HADDOCK are to be chosen by these rules. The shortest fish are the best.
SALMON should be chosen for its small head and thick neck; its scales
should be bright, and its gills and flesh of a fine red colour. The
Thames and Severn Salmon are mostly esteemed.
SKATE, MAIDS, and THORNBACKS are all of one species; they ought to be
white and thick. The two latter should be kept a day, or perhaps two,
to make them tender, and Skate may be kept longer. The maiden Skate and
the young male, or Thornback, are the best; but large, old Skate, is
generally coarse and rank.
FLOUNDERS, PLAICE, &c. should be stiff and firm, with bright, full
eyes. If flabby, these and all other kinds of fish are certainly stale.
The Thames Flounders are reckoned best, in London, because they may be
had alive, or nearly so, and they are always best when dressed as soon
as caught.
HERRINGS, PILCHARDS, WHITINGS, SPRATS, &c.—These may be classed
together. The largest are the best. Their gills should be of a fine
red, their fins stiff, their eyes bright, and their flesh, when best,
is bright and firm. As the Herrings emigrate, in immense shoals, from
the northern regions, they are in the greatest perfection on their
first arrival on the coasts of Scotland, the North of Ireland, and
the Isle of Man. On the coast of the German Ocean also, even so far
south as Yarmouth, they are taken in great quantities, remarkably
fat and fine, and full of spawn; but before they reach the southern
coast of England, they become poor and thin, and are then known by the
denomination of Shotten-Herrings.
MACKEREL look beautifully bright when first caught. These and WHITINGS
should be dressed as soon as possible.