Anchovy

“ Chop finely any kind of fish, that which has been already dressed will answer the purpose, then pound it in a mortar with a couple of anchovies, or a little anchovy essence, the yolk of a hard boiled egg, a little butter, parsley or any other herb which may be approved, grated lemon peel, and a little of the juice, then add a little bread previously soaked, and mix the whole into a paste, and form into balls, or use for stuffing, &c.
The liver or roe of fish is well suited to add to the fish, as it is rich and delicate. ”

“ Hull, £32; sails, gear, and oars, £30; nets and gear attached, £60. The season for anchovy fishing commences on the 1st of March and ends 30th of June; it begins again on the 15th of September, and continues until the end of the year. Most fish are taken at a distance of about 9 miles from the land, although they often come in much closer. Anchovies are sold fresh, or are salted to be sent away, some are used for bait, and in times of great plenty quantities are put on the land for manure. The greater part are, however, preserved in barrels or tins, and are exported to France or England. ”

“ Rod fishing is done in comparatively deep water on the rocky reefs or shelly banks along the keys, from an anchored boat. Any natural bait, as a small fish, crab, crawfish, or conch, will answer, though a small fish, as the mullet, sardine, or anchovy, is the best. When of large size the gag is a very gamy fish, and must be handled very carefully to preserve one's tackle intact. ”

“ The anchovy, which the natives call olthen, is so delicate a fish that it soon becomes tainted, unless pickled or smoked: the natives run a small stick through the gills and hang it up to dry in the smoke of their lodges, or kindle small fires under it for the purpose of drying: it needs no previous preparation of gutting, and will be cured in twenty-four hours: the natives do not appear to be very scrupulous about eating them when a little fœtid. ”

“ Choose those that are in the state they come over in, not such as have been put into fresh pickle, mixed with red paint,280-* which some add to improve the complexion of the fish; it has been said, that others have a trick of putting anchovy liquor on pickled sprats;280-† you will easily discover this by washing one of them, and tasting the flesh of it, which in the fine anchovy is mellow, red, and high-flavoured, and the bone moist and oily. Make only as much as will soon be used, the fresher it is the better. ”

“ Some of our best-known and most valuable fishes are contained in this genus, as the Pilchard, Herring, Sprat, and Whitebait, not to reckon the Shads and the Anchovy, which are now placed in separate genera. Its distinctive characters are that the mouth is small, obliquely vertical; the teeth very minute or absent, the jaws nearly equal, not notched; the belly line compressed to an edge, sharp, and generally serrated: the dorsal fin situated above the ventrals; the latter about equal to the pectorals, and both small ”

“ The following fishes, bass, black and blue fish, carp, cat, dory, drum, gar, gurnard, herring, king, lump, mackerel, parr, perch, pickerel, pike, pilot, porgy, roach, rock, scup, sucker, sword, tautog, tench, trout, troutlet, weak, and weaver, after being baked or boiled as directed, may be served with the following sauces: anchovy, caper, génevoise, génoise, au gratin, Hollandaise, Italienne, matelote, tomato, Tartar, and vinaigrette.
It would be perfectly useless to have a receipt for each fish, since the preparation is the same. ”

“ Practise the same Method with either of the former; and to imitate the Tail of the Lobster, put in the Tails of Shrimps, Buntings, Prawns or Cray-fish; the last cut in pieces, and serve them either upon Sippets in a Plate, or in the large Shell of the Lobster.
N.B. This is a sort of Salmy, or Salmy-Gundy, as they call it in England; but is very much like the Thing we want: and I think, if the Shrimps, or others, were put into the first, it would make it better than putting in the Anchovy Liquor; but if they are to imitate a Crab, they must, (i.e. the Shrimps or Prawns) be chopt very small. ”

“ Clean and prepare about three pounds of fish, as directed for baking, etc. It may be one fish or several, according to size. Place the fish in a fish-kettle, just cover it with cold water and a gill of vinegar, or with half water and half white wine; season with three or four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a bay-leaf, one clove, one onion, half a carrot (in slices) , two cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, and a little tarragon, if handy. Set on the fire, and boil gently till done. Dish the fish, and serve it warm with a caper or anchovy sauce in a boat, or with currant jelly. ”

“ The distribution of a particular species appears to depend upon the salinity of the water, the temperature of the water, the kind and quantity of food available19 and the prevailing intensity of sunlight. It is possible to divide fish into four well-defined groups, according to the salinity of the water in which they are found: (1) Marine fish: those that live always in the sea, for example herring, haddock, shark. (2) Fresh-water fish: those that live always in fresh water, for example carp, trout, pike. ”

“ As soon as they are caught the heads are cut off and the entrails taken out; after this they are salted, or pickled, and packed in barrels or earthen vessels for exportation.
In the choice of anchovies such should be selected as are small, round-backed, fresh pickled, whitish on the outside and red within. The most effectual method of concentrating the excellences of these fish is to reduce the fleshy part to a soft pulp, and to boil this gently, for a few minutes, with a certain proportion of water and spices. The substance thus prepared is denominated essence of anchovies. ”

“ All fish, during the larval stage of their development, feed first upon the contents of the yolk sac which, when they are hatched, is attached to their ventral surface. When the yolk is absorbed, the larvae feed upon the microscopic plankton that abound in the water on every side. The surface water, with its warm temperature, high plankton content and sunlight, forms an ideal nursery for the very young fish of all species. ”

“ The Fecundity of Fish is remarkable, and is especially noticeable in the sturgeon, salmon, cod, mackerel, flounder and herring, whose powers of reproduction are almost incredible. In general fish are oviparous, or egg-producing, the young being afterwards hatched; some few, like the eel and the blenny, are viviparous, and produce their young alive. ”

“ As for the shop itself, it was a great fish odor, for its counters, shelves and floor had held nothing else for years and years. The poultry came only in odd seasons, but fish was always with us: blue mussels, scalloped cockles, crabs and lobsters, mossy mussels, for shell fish: sole, conger eels, haddock, cod, mackerel, herring, shrimps, flake and many other sorts for the regular [7] fish. Then, of course, there were the smoked kind: bloaters, red herrings, kippered herring, finnan haddock, and salt cod. ”

“ For fish, the rivers are plentifully stored with sturgeon, porpoise, bass, rockfish, carp, shad, herring, eel, catfish, perch, flat-fish, trout, sheepshead, drummers, jewfish, crevises, crabs, oysters, and divers other kinds. Of all which myself has seen great quantity taken, especially the last summer at Smith's Island at one haul a frigate's lading of sturgeon, bass, and other great fish in Captain Argall's seine, and even at the very place which is not above fifteen miles from Point Comfort. ”

“ Those fresh-water fishes that do not wander away, go to the well-aired spots in their neighborhood to spawn—to the shore-waters, the wet meadows, or the junctions of rivers, or to the tributary streams of the lakes in which they live. Those salt-water fish which live at the bottom likewise go to the waters near the shores, where the flats and the meadows swarm during the spring with their young. The eggs of the cod and mackerel are buoyed upon the surface of the water, where the winds blow constantly over them. ”

“ The parent fish ascend to the head-waters of their native river during the autumn season to spawn, and then, their glory dimmed, they return down-stream to the deep pools, where they pass the winter sulkily, as if ashamed to show themselves in their dull and dusky suits. But when spring comes round once more, and flies again become abundant, the trout begin to move up-stream afresh, and soon fatten out to their customary size and brilliant colours. ”

“ Fish of all sorts is best when short, thick, well-made, bright in the scales, stiff and springy to the touch, the gills of a fresh red, and the belly not flabby. When the gills are not bright and fresh red-coloured, the fish is not eatable. Salmon, carp, tench, barbel, pike, trout, whiting, &c., when the eyes are sunk, the fins hanging, and the gills grown pale, are not good. ”

“ Angling.
"Yes," answered Frank, "fish of this kind lay more eggs than those of the more bold and rapacious kind, such as the perch and pike. I have read that 620,000 eggs have been counted in the spawn of a big carp. You see that so many of the young are destroyed by other fish that this is a necessary provision of nature. I once saw the artificial breeding of trout by a way which I have never told you of, and it was most interesting. ”

“ Since the spawning grounds of many kinds of fish are in shallow water, and the fish are at that time most easily caught, it happens that many of the most extensive fisheries are carried on in the spawning season. The delicious little smelts which our neighbors in Maine and New Brunswick send us by the hundred car-loads each winter, packed in little boxes of snow, are always full of eggs—so are the lake white fish, when they are caught, and the shad, and the Potomac herrings, and the cod, and the mullet, and the herring, and in early spring the mackerel. ”

“ There is a very ample supply of excellent water, which of course is the chief agent used in pisciculture; and behind the group of buildings we have mentioned, there is a suite of ponds and running streams devoted to the exhibition of the progressive stages of growth of the Rhine salmon, Ombre Chevalier, and various kinds of trout. As We have said, the collection of the eggs, and, in some cases, the spawning-fish gives employment to many of the fresh-water fishermen of Switzerland and Germany, who make a good deal of money at this picturesque occupation. ”

“ You must have other waters besides stews, to assist in the disposition of the fish; for laying a pond in that great order dry, as I propose, once in every year, there will be a great quantity of fish to be disposed; so that you must have a sufficient quantity of waters to receive when you abound, and to recruit when you want. The stews will carry sixty, seventy, or eighty carps apiece, supposing you spend continually out of them; so other waters will receive their proportion, by sending this way and that the stock of fish, you will preserve all, and know where to find them again. ”

“ Passing behind the Conservatory and down the Eastern Arcade--in which will be arranged algæ, sponges, mollusca, star-fish, worms used for bait, insects which destroy spawn or which serve as food for fish, etc.--on turning to the left, we find ourselves in the fish market, which will probably vie with the aquaria on the other side in attracting popular attention. This model Billingsgate is to be divided into two parts, the one for the sale of fresh, the other of dried and cured fish. ”

“ And in four or five hours with one net were ordinarily taken seven or eight; often more, seldom less. In the small rivers all the year there is a good plenty of small fish, so that with hooks those that would take pains had sufficient....
Of fish we were best acquainted with sturgeon, grampus, porpoise, seals, stingrays whose tails are very dangerous, brits, mullets, white salmon, trouts, soles, plaice, herring, conyfish, rockfish, eels, lampreys, catfish, shad, perch of three sorts, crabs, shrimps, crevises, oysters, cockles, and mussels. ”

“ Many species of fish, as the Salmon, Smelt, and others, in forsaking the deep water, and approaching a suitable spawning station, leave the sea altogether for a time, ascend the rivers and their tributary streams, and, having deposited their eggs, return again to their usual haunts. Even a certain species of fish, inhabiting lakes, as the Roach, betake themselves to the tributary streams, as the most suitable places for spawning. ”

“ The range of fish is very various; some are migratory in their habits, others stationary. Among the fresh-water fish, some inhabit waters of a purer or impurer kind; the salmon, trout, and others inhabiting the purer streams, whilst the eels and other species luxuriate in the more stagnant pools. ”

“ As to how many fish a given extent of water will support, there are many different opinions. Much, undoubtedly, will depend on the soil which surrounds the ponds, whether or not it yields a supply of food of any kind, and also on the stream employed to supply the water. The flavour of a fish, we may say, depends entirely on the kind of food it obtains; and when more fishes are placed in a piece of water than there is food for, they will either equalise the supply by turning cannibals, or remain lank and flavourless. ”

“ The eggs of the salmon, trout, grayling, shad, whitefish, etc., can be stripped from the fish, can be separated and manipulated as easily as so much shot, and made to respond readily to fish-cultural methods. But the eggs of the black bass are enveloped in a gelatinous mass that precludes stripping, and their separation is extremely difficult, if not impossible. ”