Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

quality and whiteness of their cod-fish. _To select._--To be good, fish must be fresh. It is fresh when the eyes are clear, the fins stiff, the gills red, hard to open, and without bad odor. _To clean and prepare for boiling._--The sooner fish is cleaned the better. Cut the belly open, take the inside out, wash well and wipe dry immediately with a clean towel, inside and out. Place the eggs or soft roes inside, and tie with twine. It is then ready to be boiled. If not cooked as soon as cleaned and prepared, keep it on ice. _To clean and prepare for baking, frying, roasting, and to cut in pieces, etc._--Scale the fish well, holding it by the head or tail; cut the belly open and take the inside out; trim off the fins, gills, and tail; wash well inside and out, and wipe dry immediately. Keep it on ice if not used immediately. _Same Family, or Kind._--We give only one receipt for all the fishes of the same family, or having the same kind of flesh, as they are cooked alike, and require the same spices. Almost every kind of fish is boiled, broiled, fried, or stewed. Some are better boiled than broiled, others better fried than stewed, etc. With few exceptions, any eatable fish may be cooked in these four ways. Few are roasted. _To know when cooked enough._--It is very difficult, if not entirely impossible, to tell how long it takes to cook fish, as it depends as much on the size, kind, or quality of the fish as on the fire; but as soon as the flesh comes off the bones easily, the fish is cooked; this is very easy to be ascertained with a knife. _To improve._--Clean the fish as for baking, etc., and lay it in a crockery vessel with the following seasonings under and upon it: parsley and onions chopped fine, salt, pepper, thyme, bay-leaves, and vinegar or oil; turn it over occasionally, and leave thus for two or three hours. _To bone._--Slit the fish on one side of the backbone