The Paradise of fish-eaters is Copenhagen. New York and other American
port towns could get some very important hints from the way things are
done there. Before 1892 it was difficult to bring live fish into the
town without contaminating them with sewage and spoiling their flavor.
In that year a general sewage system was constructed by which the
city's sewage is carried two kilometers out into the open sea, thus
putting an end to the contamination of the ocean front and the harbor.
The gratifying results of this reform were described by the London
"Lancet's" representative at the Sanitary Congress in Copenhagen,
October, 1910:
"This not only puts an end to the nuisances that used to arise, but
enables boats full of live fish to come close to shore and right into
the town by means of the fresh-water canals. In this manner at least
the smaller fish are kept alive till the moment they are sold. Any
number of wooden boats are pierced with holes and filled with fish;
these boats just float on the surface of the water, and the living fish
is taken out of them when wanted. But as every one cannot go to the
water's edge to buy fish, there are water tanks on wheels and the live
fish is brought to the doors of the people's houses.
"Never before," this sanitarian continues, "have I been in a town
where all the fish, whether cheap or dear is so beautifully fresh. The
principal fish market was built by the municipality and is let to a
wholesale fish salesman. It is a delight to see how clean and bright
these premises are kept. There is no spreading the fish on slabs so
that dust and dirt may settle on them. Very pretty tessellated tile
tanks are filled with running water, and here the smaller fish swim
about."
In Berlin and other German cities the fish are also brought alive to
the kitchen. An eminent artist who is also an ideal hausfrau, Mme.
Gadski, informed me that she wouldn't think of buying a dead fish.
"They are brought to the kitchen alive, and I reject those that are not
swimming about," she said.
The Germans are great eaters of fresh-water fishes, and there are
ingenious arrangements for bringing them to market alive.
The large fish of the ocean cannot, of course, be delivered alive, but
the transportation facilities are now so excellent that not only the
more expensive kinds, like sole, turbot, and sterlet, but the cheaper
sorts, like cod, haddock, plaice, and herring, are brought to city and
town markets in prime condition.
A German culinary authority specially calls attention to the fact that
the "ancient and fish-like smell" is a thing of the past. In the days
when transportation facilities were less adequate this odor made it
necessary to boil fish in two waters, throwing the first away. Now the
cook has only the natural odor of the unspoiled fish to deal with,
which, being agreeable, is carefully preserved in the cooking.
The fishing places off the German coast are visited daily by
fast steamers to collect the catch. The boats are provided with
refrigerating apparatus, and so are the express trains which at
Stettin, Geestemmünde, Cuxhaven, and other coast towns, take the fish
from the boats and carry them at full speed to the cities all over the
Empire.
The same excellent arrangements for keeping the fish cold without
spoiling their flavor by freezing them are to be found on German
steamers. On the eighth day out on the _Kaiserin Auguste Victoria_ I
found the salmon as fresh-tasting as if it had just been caught. "How
do you do it?" I asked Captain Ruser; and he explained the system--the
refrigerating arrangements which, with steady ventilation, provide a
frigid atmosphere without actually freezing the fish or the meat.
Such things cost time and money; but the Germans, being a gastronomic
nation, consider them worth while, on sea as well as on shore.
Hamburg sets a good example in showing what a municipal government can
do in the way of providing the people with fresh fish and telling them
what to do with them. The following is from the "Fremdenblatt" of that
city; similar notices frequently appear in the newspapers:
SALE OF CHEAP SEA FISH. "The Staatliche Fischereidirektion"
informs us that on Tuesday, August 20, there will be on sale,
at the known 150 shops, fresh haddocks--averaging ¾ pound
apiece--at 23 pfennigs [5¾ cents] a pound. Besides this, many
shops offer for sale fresh mackerel at twenty to twenty-five
pfennigs [5 to 6¼ cents] apiece, according to size. The
mackerel is an excellent fish both for frying and boiling.
New directions for cooking haddock in a variety of ways are
contained in the illustrated booklet, "Fischkost," which is
given free to purchasers at all the stalls.
The Hamburgers are lucky in having the "net gains" of sea fishing
placed before them at the earliest possible moment. With the aid
of the arrangements just referred to these fishes can, however, be
bought in good condition as far away as Vienna. A few years ago the
Austrian officials had a number of railway cars constructed for the
transportation of sea fish and also of live fresh-water fish. Germany
has had such cars for decades, bringing fish not only from her own
ports but from Holland and elsewhere. African eels are sent from
Algiers to Marseilles and thence by express trains all the way to
Berlin.
Eels are usually despised in America and with good reason, for their
scavenging habits often make them inedible. But there are eels that
live on fresh food, such as small crustaceans at the bottom of the
sea, and fish roe; and these are as good as any fish that swims. The
large eels served in Berlin are as tender, juicy, and sweet-flavored as
shad. When I was a student at the University of Berlin, one of my pet
excursions was up the Spree, stopping at an inn where eels of medium
size--_blau gesotten_, were served as a specialty. They were delicious,
though they did look strikingly like snakes as they lay curled up on
the plate swallowing their own tails.
Not a few persons whose education has been neglected refuse to eat
eels, believing them to be allied to snakes, when in truth they are no
more related to snakes, zoölogically, than whales are. And even if they
were of the snake family what of it, if they taste good? The eminent
Norwegian explorer, Dr. Lumholtz, who spent several years among the
Australian wild men, told me on his return, while we were enjoying a
dish of terrapin together at Henry Villard's, that much as he liked
this reptilian delicacy, of which we Americans are so proud, he thought
that python liver, which he had had frequent occasion to eat, was quite
as good.
While studying at Heidelberg I did not neglect, it is needless to say,
the Wolfsbrunnen, famous for its trout. I have eaten trout, caught by
myself in many parts of the world, including the Maine woods, Lake
Tahoe in California, and Trout Lake in the State of Washington; but
none tasted better than a dish served in Berlin at a sumptuous new
hotel oddly called Boarding Palace.
All over Germany fish-breeding in ponds is an important industry.
Bavaria alone had, in 1909, over 33,000 acres of such ponds, and
probably has many more now; Saxony had 200,000 acres, while Silesia had
nearly 60,000. The total area of fish ponds in the Empire probably does
not fall far short of a quarter of a million acres.
Carp are grown in special abundance, and German carp are very good to
eat, especially when they have been artificially fed and fattened with
rice, potatoes, fish meal, or dairy refuse.
Other kinds grown are perch, pike-perch, tench, eels, and trout of
several kinds, including the American rainbow. The trout are fed
shellfish, slaughterhouse refuse, horse meat, fish meal, and specially
prepared foods.
Everything is done with German thoroughness, and the results once more
prove gastronomy to be a good guide to wealth.
The profits are increased by selling the fish direct to consumers.
Fish-growing associations have been formed for this special purpose all
over the empire.
As these ponds are scattered all over the country it is possible to
have everywhere fish just out of the water; and, as I have said before,
the poorest variety of fish just caught has a finer Flavor than the
best variety that has been kept a few days by any method whatever. I
have lived in Germany three years and do not remember ever to have had
on my plate insipid fish, such as we are doomed three times out of four
to eat in our own country, chiefly because the fish are frozen.
Dr. Wiley insists in his "Foods and Their Adulteration" (1911) that
"the consumer is entitled to know whether in any given case the fish he
purchases is a fresh or a cold storage article. At the present time,
in so far as I know, there are no national, state or municipal laws
whereby this fact can be ascertained. Without raising the question
of comparative value or palatability there is no doubt but what the
consumer is entitled to know the character of the fish he purchases."
BIG FRAUDS IN FISH: Under this head the "National Food
Magazine" of Chicago has published some remarks by G. J. L. Janes,
which vividly depict the outrages perpetrated in the United States by
cold-storage men.
"The legal regulations governing the sale of fish are so lax that we
have decided to stop handling fresh fish altogether rather than suffer
the unjust competition and be a party to so many deceptions on the
public. A dealer can take any kind of frozen fish, thaw it out, and
mark it strictly fresh-caught fish, and if he so desire, sell it as
such. This is being done all along State Street in Chicago to-day.
It is not only a fraud and cheat on the public, but it is dangerous.
Fresh-caught halibut costs 12 cents a pound wholesale. There is 20
per cent. waste in it, because of the fins, skin, etc., and hence we
have to add 20 per cent. to the cost in order to break even on it.
Nevertheless certain stores are advertising strictly fresh-caught
halibut at 10½ cents a pound retail. Of course this is frozen halibut
they are selling. That can be bought at 8 cents a pound wholesale. The
same is true of other fishes, especially white fish. That costs 22
cents a pound when fresh. Certain stores advertise "fancy whitefish
winter caught" at 10 cents retail. There is no mention of its being
frozen or cold storage fish, and so the public is deceived. _It is
dangerous economy to buy cheap fish._ No other food deteriorates so
rapidly after it comes from the water. Especially is this true of white
fish, which spoils quickest of all. _Freezing breaks up the tissues_,
and when it once is thawed it decomposes with enormous rapidity."
As long as the American public patiently tolerates such impositions
on purse and stomach it seems hardly worth while to discuss the more
subtle gastronomic problems, such as the question put by Dr. Wiley:
"Whether or not the flavor and character of the flesh are impaired
by the suffocation process subsequent to the capture of the fish."
Undoubtedly fish is best when killed the instant it leaves the water,
and then at once eviscerated and cleaned.
When we have become sufficiently civilized to insist on such measures
being taken, attention will be paid to the suggestions of the Danish
fisheries agent, Captain A. Solling, communicated to the "Daily
Consular and Trade Reports" by Consul-General Wallace C. Bond, of
Copenhagen. Captain Solling recommends that the fish, at least the
better kinds, be cut while yet alive, promptly cleaned, and then
wrapped in specially prepared paper which would prevent its coming in
direct contact with the chopped ice. The objection may be raised, he
admits, that this way of treating fish is too particular and takes too
long; but the increased work and the increased expense will, he feels
sure, soon be offset by the higher price secured on account of the
better preservation of the fish; and "the intelligent fishmonger will
soon discover the advantage of handling fish, which if not sold to-day,
may be sold in 3, 4 or 8 days and still be equally good and fresh."
Progress along this line of gastronomic civilization will be a boon to
the American farmer. There are tens of thousands of lakelets and ponds
in our country, most of which might be used for fish culture. They will
be so used by farmers as soon as we have learned the lesson the German
ponds teach, and stopped buying the flavorless frozen stuff sold in our
fish markets.
In Switzerland there has been formed a Fish-Growers' Association for
the enlightenment of the land owners. Its motto is: "Every Farmer a
Fish Pond Owner." Attention is called to the demonstrated fact that an
acre of fish pond is more profitable than the same area devoted to the
ordinary farm crops.