Fish oil

“ Following the general principles of nutrition, all chemical, non-condimental preservatives are to be rigidly excluded from fish products. This rule excludes boric acid, borax, benzoic acid and benzoates, sulfites, formaldehyde, and all other forms of chemical preservatives.
When fish are packed in oil the character of the oil used should be made known to the consumer. Especially is this true if from the locality where the fish is preserved and the general method of packing the consumer is led to believe that a high-grade oil such as olive oil has been used. ”

“ Blown fish oils are mixed with mineral oils for use as lubricants for heavy machinery. They have been used as vehicles for paints in place of linseed oil, but with somewhat disappointing results. They are used successfully in place of linseed oil in the manufacture of printers’ ink, and in making paints for painting smoke stacks. Such paints resist successfully the action of heat and light. ”

“ Blubber oils constitute a thick layer of adipose tissue just under the skin of the marine mammalia, e.g. whale, seal, dolphin, porpoise.
In oily fish, such as herrings and sprats, each minute globule of oil is enclosed within a thin skin. It is practically impossible to rupture this skin and liberate the oil simply by the application of pressure. When,125 however, these globules are heated the skin shrivels, the oil globules expand and burst the skin, and the liquid oil is liberated and can then be extracted from the flesh by pressure. ”

“ The staves of whale-oil casks become quite brittle, whilst those of beef, pork, and tallow barrels remain tough and sound. Ships constantly in the Greenland trade have their timbers and planks [108] preserved so far as they have become impregnated with whale oil.
Experiments with fish oil prove that of itself, unless exposed to sun and air, it may be injurious; that it loosens the cohesion of timber; but that animal fat, combined with saline matter, is preservative.
Fish oil used alone is ineligible, because capable of running into the putrefactive process, unless as a thin outside varnish. ”

“ The most grateful condiment to the Sitkan palate is rancid fish-oil, or oolachan “butter”—a semi-solid grease, with a fetid smell and taste; into this they always dip or rub their flakes of dried fish, [Pg 58] their berries, in fact everything that they eat. A little wooden trencher or tub, grotesquely carved, always is to be seen (and smelled) , placed alongside of the monotonous kettle of stewed fish, or pile of dried fish, which constitutes the regular spread for a full meal. And again, a very curious, soap-like use of this oil is made by the younger and more comely savages. ”

“ Sardine Salad.—Wash the oil from six sardines, remove skin and bone and pour a little lemon juice over them. Put into a salad-bowl the leaves of a head of crisp lettuce; add the fish. Chop up two hard-boiled eggs, add to the fish, and serve with a plain dressing. Some do not approve of the washing process, but one of the principal reasons why Americans dislike oil is the fact that they first tasted it on sardines with which a poor fish-oil is generally used, and the reason that the trade in sardines has fallen off, is owing to the poor oil used in the canning of these otherwise dainty fish. ”

“ A full grown fish yields from two to five barrels of oil. Their meat is palatable to my taste, although I could not recommend it to an [Pg 37] epicure ashore; nor would I, I think, partake of it anywhere but on board ship, when long deprivation from fresh food makes anything, not saturated by salt, a luxury. It is in appearance somewhat like beef, but coarser; it is minced with pork and fried in balls about the size of the sausage exposed for sale in our markets, and in this state its advent is hailed by all aboard with great gusto.
Their oil is very little inferior to that of the sperm whale ”

“ The first step in the oil dressing, after the skins have been duly soaked to render them porous and absorptive, is to cover them with fish oil and place them in the stocks or fulling machines—huge wooden hammers with notched faces working in iron cases—where they are beaten and turned, and subjected to a uniform pressure until the oil is gradually absorbed. ”

“ The oil, then, by its own outspreading, extending over the waves, forms a film of less than a two and a half millionth part of an inch in thickness; and this is enough to reduce breaking waves and dangerous "rollers" to unbroken undulations that are practically harmless. The oils that have been found most effective are seal, porpoise, and fish oils. Mineral oils, such as are used for illumination, are too light ”

“ If you use oil for fish it should be clarified before being returned to the jar or bottle, or it can be strained through muslin; 3rd for the fat or dripping poultry has been roasted in and which is very good eaten on bread, used for pastry, cakes, etc. In frying fish use plenty of fat or oil, a brisk fire, and do not turn the pieces till quite done on the one side, but keep your fish slice busy to prevent sticking or burning.
In boiling fish, if you have no proper fish cullender to lay it on in the boiler, use a dish and tie a muslin over it to lift by when it is done. ”

“ As soon as the Indians have stored away the full supply of food for the winter, all the fish subsequently taken are converted into oil. If we stroll down to the lodges near the beach, we shall see for ourselves how they manage it. The fish reserved for oil-making have been piled in heaps until partially decomposed; five or six fires are blazing away, and in each fire are a number of large round pebbles, to be made very hot.95 By each fire are four large square boxes, made from the trunk of the pine-tree. ”

“ The oil used for frying these little fishes is not, as a matter of course, the virgin oil of the month of May. But it is infinitely better than the "cooking-butter" sent to the kitchens of thousands of wealthy Americans. It is more economical, too, than our frying baths. When the French composer Massenet, a noted gourmet, visited Italy for the first time, he enjoyed a meal consisting of "an excellent snail soup and fish fried in oil which must have done service in the kitchen at least two or three years." ”

“ The only certain method of guarantee of the purity of a cod liver oil is in the proper inspection and control of the manufacturing works. The livers of many other kinds of fish are employed in the manufacture of cod liver oil, but the other varieties have little value as compared with the cod liver oil itself and they are probably used almost exclusively in the adulteration of the genuine article. The Norwegian cod fish gives a much better character of oil than those coming from the Atlantic coast of America. ”

“ The peanut oil is probably used simply because it is cheaper. When the fish are thus sterilized and thoroughly cooked they are placed in boxes in the well known manner in which they are found and covered with oil, sealed, and, if necessary, again sterilized in order to prevent decomposition. Olive oil is the oil usually employed for packing purposes, though cheaper grades of edible oil are very commonly found in sardines. The substitutes for olive oils which are usually employed are peanut oil, cottonseed oil, and sesame oil, either single or mixed. ”

“ They were waiting for the tide to leave these fishes high and dry, that they might strip off the blubber and carry it to their try-works in their boats, where they try it on the beach. They get commonly a barrel of oil, worth fifteen or twenty dollars, to a fish. ”

“ Fish, to be eatable, should be perfectly fresh. Nothing else in the line of food deteriorates so rapidly, especially the white fish-those that are nearly free of oil, like cod, cusk, etc. Most of the oil in this class centres in the liver. Salmon, mackerel, etc., have it distributed throughout the body, which gives a higher and richer flavor, and at the same time tends to preserve the fish. People who do not live near the seashore do not get that delicious flavor which fish just caught have. If the fish is kept on ice until used, it will retain much of its freshness ”

“ We will fry in oil. If you use lard at all you want it to be very nice. In the frying pan I shall put about half an inch of oil; that is less than half a cupful. Put it over the fire and let it get hot, just as I did for the chicken. This is frozen fish that has been thawed. Cut the fish in pieces about two inches square and roll them either in flour seasoned with pepper and salt, or Indian meal, as I told you; put them into the oil when the oil is hot. As soon as the fish is browned nicely it will be done. You can add more seasoning than there is in the flour. Use Indian meal with pork ”

“ Many people prefer to dip the slice of fish in olive oil rather than butter. If the oil be used it must not be heated, and it is well to apply it to the fish an hour or more before the cooking.
Various sauces are often served with broiled fish, but there is nothing better than sweet butter, salt, pepper, a little lemon juice, and perhaps a little chopped parsley; or, the lemon juice may be omitted and a fresh lemon be cut into six parts as a garnish for the dish. Each person can then use as much of the acid as pleases him. ”

“ There is always a little residual oil in fish manure that tends to delay its decomposition in the soil. It is important, therefore, that the oil be removed as completely as possible.
Dry fish manure requires careful storing, as the presence of this small amount of oxidizable oil tends to promote spontaneous combustion.
In addition to its value as a fertilizer, the high content of protein (albumen) —namely, 50 per cent—makes fish meal a suitable food for live-stock and poultry. ”

“ The fishermen assert, that one of these fish, when hung up by the tail in the hot sun of a summer day, will melt and entirely disappear, except the bones. In putting up about 50 barrels this season, one of the fishermen made two and a half barrels [Pg 275] of oil from the heads and ‘leaf fat’ alone, without the least injury to the marketableness of the fish. Besides this leaf fat, the fat or oil is disseminated ‘in a layer of fat and a layer of lean’ throughout the fish. They are too fat to be eaten fresh, and are put up for market like whitefish and trout. ”

“ The valuable contents of ‘the case’ are brought on board by means of buckets, and are very carefully preserved, being known as ‘head-matter.’ A large whale of the Pacific seas will yield from seventy to ninety, or even on occasion a hundred barrels of oil. Sperm oil is more valuable than train oil, the produce of the Greenland fish. In a trade circular, we find as we write, ‘crude sperm’ quoted at sixty-four pounds ten shillings per tun, the other sort being set down as ranging from twenty-seven to thirty-two pounds. But the prices are ever varying according to supply and demand. ”

“ Seines have supplanted the aborigine’s hand-rake, and a thousand barrels of silver herring have been taken at a single haul, although the average haul is about half as many barrels, and requiring eleven men to each net then. Each barrel of fish yields about three gallons of oil at the oil works, which are managed by men who have had charge of menhaden fisheries on the Atlantic coast. As the result of the first year’s work, 82,000 gallons of herring oil were shipped below in 1883, selling at the rate of thirty cents per gallon. ”

“ All along the shore from the Carolinas to eastern Maine are ‘factories’ where these loads of menhaden are sold. Their bodies yield oil of a superior sort, useful for every purpose to which any fish or whale oil may be applied. ”

“ Sprats are so different in their animal construction as to be easily detected from genuine fish—Gorgona anchovies. The Armenian bole, often made use of to colour the sauce, has very properly been exposed and condemned.
No. 8. Pure olive oil will preserve meat and fish, after it has been cured, for a long time; but oils drawn from lard and other spurious imitations, will not fail to hasten their decay. The oil should never be heated, when used for this purpose.
No. 9. Subjecting meats to a water-bath is not to be resorted to. ”

“ Take whale oil. Take the funny old buildings on Front Street, out of paintings, I declare, by Howard Pyle, where the large merchants in whale oil are. Take salt fish. Do you know the oldest salt-fish house in America, down by Coenties Slip? Ah! you should. The ghost of old Long John Silver, I suspect, smokes an occasional pipe in that old place. And many are the times I've seen the slim shade of young Jim Hawkins come running out. Take Labrador cod for export to the Mediterranean lands or to Porto Rico via New York. ”

“ The charm it makes use of is supposed to be an oil contained in a small bag in the body, and which nature has by some means or other supplied him with the power of using for this purpose; it is however very certain that any bait touched with a drop of the oil collected from this bird is an irresistible lure for all sorts of fish, and insures the angler great success. ”

“ The common cod-liver oil of commerce drains from the livers of the cod-fish when freely exposed to the sun, and just beginning to putrefy. It is dark coloured, strong, and nauseous, and is now chiefly employed in this country by the curriers, for dressing leather. It is the ‘OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI FUSCUM’ of Continental writers. Formerly, the less fetid varieties of this crude oil, after the impurities were removed, either by subsidence or filtration, constituted the only cod-liver oil used in medicine. ”