This is a more troublesome, but withal a delicious preparation of the
herring, and should be practised on the best and freshest fish, as on
the Isle of Man――“Manx herrings”――in July and August, and the Yarmouth
later on in the season. Select two dozen from out of a lot of fish,
the largest and roundest, wash them a minute in salt and water, having
taken out the eyes and gills, wipe them, and lay them open at the back,
wipe clean out, and put them into a pickle made by boiling water for
twenty minutes, skimming, and then straining through a sieve,
Rock salt or bay salt 1½ lb.
Coarse sugar 1 lb.
Allspice, ground 2 oz.
Fifteen bay leaves, shred
Six laurel leaves, shred
Water, 5 quarts
Let the fish remain in this six hours, then hang them by their
shoulders, and stretched widely open, to dry in a quick current of
air. In this, and all similar cases, where the _inside_ is to be acted
upon by the atmosphere, those sides should be placed on the hooks so
as to receive the full advantage of the air current. When dried as you
think sufficiently, hang them in the chimney, and smoke them till of a
fine bright brown; return them to the air, and next day take them off
the hooks, lay them on their backs, and brush them all over the inside
with essence of allspice and water, two parts of the former to one part
of the latter; repeat this, and when absorbed, brush them over again
liberally with this mixture:
Essence of cassia 2 tablespoonfuls
Essence of cloves 4 tablespoonfuls
Essence of mace 2 tablespoonfuls
Essence of bays 4 tablespoonfuls
Water 6 tablespoonfuls
repeating this three or four times, according to your taste. Any of the
others may be used singly or in combination. The backbone must be well
saturated. Stow away, wrapped in paper, in malt cooms and charcoal;
they will keep a long time, and repay your trouble well.