The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1885-07-03
HOW TO PICKLE MU LET

Editor Democrat-Stari:
Will "Cyprian" please tell Ten
ncsseean how 10 put up mullet for
winter usel Respectfully,
TENNEssEEAE.
Of course "Cyprian' will. with
pleasure, tell "Tennesseean all he
knows about mullet. To put up
mullet for wiut0r use, in the Ian
guage of Mrs. Darlington, the first
and most important thing, is to
first catch your mullet; and the
best time to do that, is i'll the
months of July and August, for
then he is very tat. 1t is with the
mullet as it is with the hog. No
man would think OF selecting a
hog that looked like he had been
fed on razor backs and barrel hoops
to kill for his winters bacon. Not
by any means. So it is with the
mUllet he must be fat to be worth
the trouble. The best plan to pur-
sue, where a barrel or more mullet
are required, is to have two bar.
rels-No. / to salt the fish in as
soon as caught, and No. 2 TO pack
away in, as will be better under
stood further OH. All the fish in
tended to be picked should be
cleaned as soon as caught. It's not
safe to catch fish i'll the early part
of the night and wait until morn
ing to clean them, but as soon as
you have done fishing clean your
fish by scaling, cutting Oft the
heads aud splitting open OH the
back, as near the backbone as pos
sible, then take out the back bone
and wash your fish just as clean as
if You we're going to eat them fresh.
(It is "a great mistake to put up
mullet without washing, as some
people argue, for have tried il,
and the filth consequent upon the
cleaning, permeats the whole fish,
and makes it decidedly unpalata-
ble). Then sprinkle little salt in
barrel No. l, aud place layer of
fish with flesh side up, then sprinkle
salt over them TO receive the next
layer of fish and so on until all your
fish are salted down, lit requires
about the same quantity of salt tor
fish that il does tor beef or pork,
and let them remain for about six
days; by that time the salt will
have penetrated thoroughly, aud
the blood be all drawn out. Then,
after the expiration of six days,
take up your fish aud place them
on AN inclined board or boards to
drip; place vessel under them to
save the drippings; then while the
fish are on the boards or platform,
take the brine left III the barrel,
and from the vessel placed to catch
the drippings, aud boil it slowly for
about an hour aud skim off al dirt
that rises to the top; add more
water and salt, until you have
brine enough to cover your fish
about four inches; and add to your
brine "a piece OF salipetre, in the
proportion of lump about the size
of u hens egg, to every hundred
fish. Then, after allowing your
brine to cool, place your fish in
barrel No. 2 in the same order as
barrel No. 1, except the salt, and
pour the brine over them.
You can repeat the same process
every catch, until you have all the
fish you want, as the additions to
barrel No. ., in the manner above
described, will not effect the keep
ing of the fish Il particle, and the
first fish cannot be distinguished
from the last after a years time, so
far as taste is concerned. A weight
should always be kept ON top of
the fish to keep them under brine.
Put up in this way have had them
to keep for eighteen months per-
fectly sound and sweet. They take
the place OF mackeral or cod. fish
either, aud are preferable tO the
latter for fish balls.
II "Tennesseean" will follow the above
TO the letter,
He'll never have a barrel of fish do better.
CYPRIAN.