If it were worth while to favour the deception, you must select your
fish from out of half a bushel of the freshest you can get, retaining
only the middle-sized ones, for the real Gorgona fish are never so
large as our _large_ sprats, and never so small as our little ones, and
your’s should also be all of the same size. Pull off the heads――not
cutting them――in a rough manner, and draw out the gut. Wash not and
wipe not the fish, but put them in straight-sided unglazed earthen
jars, wood is preferable, in layers alternately with this mixture:
Bay salt 2 lb.
Sal prunelle 2 oz.
Cochineal, in fine powder 2 oz.
pressing them down as you proceed, and letting the top layer of the
mixture be at least two inches thick. Get cork bungs cut to fit well,
and secure them with plenty of melted resin. Bury the jars in dry sand
in your cellar or store room, “out of the way,” and do not disturb them
for nine months, or till the next sprat season. A fortnight before you
would broach your “prize,” dissolve
Gum dragon 2 oz.
Sal prunelle 2 oz.
Red sanders 1 oz.
in a pint of boiled water, and strain it through flannel, pour it
evenly over the contents of your jars or vessels; secure the bung
again, and in a week or less, turn the receptacles upside-down for a
day or two, and then again set them upright. This is called “feeding”
them. And when all is done, without the aid of “brick-dust,” or what
is as bad, “Armenian Bole,” to give them a fine red colour, the said
“British anchovies” may do to make anchovy sauce of, with other
ingredients, but to bring to table, with dry or buttered toast, as
Gorgona fish――Oh never! See Note, No. 7.