Canoe and Camp Cookery: A Practical Cook Book for Canoeists, Corinthian Sailors and Outers

will navigate are entirely destitute of edible fish, and a few minutes spent in angling will amply repay the cruiser. Fish caught out of muddy streams have an unpleasant taste, and their flavor can be improved by soaking them half an hour or more in strong salted water. Fish should be killed as soon as caught by a sharp rap on the back just aft of the head with a stick or the handle of your big knife, not only in justice to the fish, but because he tastes better, for the same reason that a butchered steer is preferable to one smothered to death. You may find grubs in fish along the backbone in July and August. You will generally remove them by taking out the backbone and its branches. But if you don't get them all out, never mind; they are good to eat; but if any one of the party is squeamish, tell him you have got them all out anyway: he won't know any better after they are cooked. It is supposed that everybody has known how to clean fish ever since he was a schoolboy, so we will proceed at once to the instructions for cooking. Fried Fish. Small fish may be fried whole, but large ones should be cut up. Have enough pork fat or lard bubbling hot in the frying-pan to well cover the fish. Smear the fish well with dry corn meal or flour, or, what is better, dip it into well-beaten egg and then into bread or cracker crumbs, and fry both sides to a clear golden brown. Sprinkle lightly with pepper and salt just as it is turning brown. Planked Fish. Shad, flounders, sunfish or any other "flat" fish may be "planked." Cut off the head and tail, split open the back, but do not cut clear through the belly, leaving the fish so that it may be opened wide like a book and tacked on a plank or piece of bark. Tack some thin slices of bacon or pork to the end of the fish that will be uppermost