The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-16
FOOD FROM THE SEA.
Mrs. Sherwood Tells How. to
Cook and Serve 1t.
OYSTERS, CLANS AND CRABS.
Charcoal Should Be Used In Cooking
Fish-Direrent Methods of serv-
ing Brook Trout.
fCopyright, 1891. BY NE. W. sherwoodJ

Copyright, 1891, by NJ. Z. W. Sherwood
| In the sixteenth century. that golden
| age of the Vatican, when the splendid
| court of Leo X. was the center OF artistic
and literary life, and the witty and pleas
! ure-loving pope made those gardens the
scene of his banquets and concerts, where
| he listened to the Rotations OF the poets,
| who sprung up under his protection, there
| beneath the shadow of the lick and the
| lauristine in circle so refined that
! ladies were admitted, where Leo himself
| leaned on the shoulder of the handsome
| Raphael, who was allowed to caress and
| admire the fine Medicean white hand OF
| his noble patron, We read that this famous
pope was so fastidious as to the fish and
| dinners of Lent that he invented twenty
| different recipes for the "chowder" of that
| davl Walking in disguise with Raphael
| through the fish market he espied the boy
who was presenting a fish to pretty
contadina on his knees. This took form
and immortality in the famous ''Vierge an
Poisson" in which, conducted by the angel
Gabriel, the youthful st. John presents
the fish to the virgin and child. a beauti-
full picture for the church whose patron
saint was fisherman.
Indeed. that picture of the sea of Galilee,
the sacred meaning attached TO the ety.
mology of the word fish, has given the
fnny wanderer of the seas peculiar and
valuable personality. All this with the
selection by our Lord of His disciples, so
many of them from amongst the fisher
men, the many poetical associations which
form around the cheapest and the most
delicate form of food with which the
Creator has stocked this world of ours.
would If followed out form volume of
| suggestion, quotation, poetry and romance
with which to embellish the art OF enter
tanning.
Fish is now discovered to produce an
immediate aliment to the brain, and as
such is recommended TO all authors and
editors, statesmen. poets and lawyers,
clergymen and matthew aticians, all who
draw on that finer Aber of the brain which is
used for the production of poetry or prose.
England is famed for its good fish. as
why should it not be with the ocean
around 1t? The turbot par excellence is
the fish for lord mayors dinner, and
it is admirable Ia creme for anybody's
dinner; the white bait of Richmond that
mysterious little dwarf. to be eaten with
slices of brown bread and butter, is a very
delicious morSel; the whiting. who always
comes to- the table with his tail in his
mouth, beautifully Drowned outside, white
as snow within, what so excellent as
whiting except sole du gratin, with
sauce tartare?
Fresh herrings, in Scotland, are deli
cious. almost equal to the red muilets,
which Cesar once ate at Marseilles. The
fresh sardines at Nice, and all along the
Mediterranean, are very delicate, as are
the thousand shell fish. The langoose, or
large lobster of France and the Medlter
ranean, are a surprise TO the American
traveller. Not so delicate as our American
lobster, they still afford an admirable food
for a salad. They are SO large that the
flesh (if fish has desh) can be sliced up
and served like cold roast turkey.
The salmon, king of fish. inspires in his
capture in Scotland rivers, in Labrador
and in Canada. some of the best writing
of the day. William Black, in Scotland,
and DIR. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia,
can tell story of salmon fishing which is
as brilliant as Victor Hugo's description
of Waterloo, or OF that mysterious jelly
fish, in the novel 1.-The Travellers of the sea-"
The New York market boasts the red
snapper, the sheepshead, the salmon, the
salmon trout, the spanish mackerel (most
tootEsome of viands) the sea bass, cod,
halibut, the shad. the greatest profusion
OF excellent oysters and clans; the cheap
pan fish and the eels are endless.
The French make many nne dishes of
eels, as the Romans did.
To be good, fish must be fresh. It is
absolutely indispensable for certain havors
that the fish should go from one element
to another, out of the water into the fre,
and onto the gridiron or into the frying
pan as soon as possible.
Therefore the housewife has this to help
| her, her great luxury, let her fish be
seasonable and fresh, and If she has but
fresh fish and gridiron she can make
good dish for hungry man.
And we shall begin with the cheapest of
the products of the water, and although
they may squirm out of our hands, try to
| bring to the table the despised cells.
An old proverb said that matrimony
| was a bag in which there were ninety
nine snakes and one eel, and the young
| lady who put her hand into this agree
able company had small chance at the eel,
| but it would seem at first as if in that
/ view of the subject no one would care
/ particularly for the eel. In old England
/ eels were exceedingly popular, and the
/ monks dearly loved to feed upon them
| The cellarist of Barking Abbey Essex in
/ the ancient times of those foundations.
/ was, amongst other eatabies. Ito provide
/ stewed eels in Lenton, and TO bake with
/ eeIs on Shrove Tuesday" There were
/ artificial receptaeles made for cells. The
/ cruel custom of sailing cells alive is mem
/ toned by some Old writers: when the
l old serpent appeared in the guise of a
| stewed eel, it was impossible TO resist him, I"
Eeis en- BtGtei0tts should be cut in three
/ inch pieces and sailed, fry an onion brown
I IN little dripping, add half a pint of
/ DrOtn 10 the OFOWh onion, part OF a bay
/ leaf, six broken pepper corns, four whole
/ cloves and gill of claret. Add the eel to
/ this and simmer until thoroughly cooked
/ Remove the eeis, put them on a hot dish
| add teaspoonfuI of brown -four to the
/ sauce, strain and pour over the eeIs.
/ Spatch cooked cells are good
/ Fricasseed Eels.-Cut I'D three poundz
/ OF eels into pieces Of three inches in length
put them into stew pan and cover them
| with Rhine wine or two-thirds water and
/ one-thlrd vinegar, add fifteen oysters. two
/ pieces OF lemon, bouquet Of herbs. one
/ onion quartered, six cloves, three stalks
celery, pinch OF cayenne pepper and salt
| 70 taste stew the cells one hour remove
| them from the dish, strain the LIQUOR. Put
1t back INTO the saucepan with a gill of
/ cream and an ounce of butter rolled in
| flour, simmer gently few minutes, pour
/ over the nsh, and you have dish for aking-
SteWed eels are great favorites with gour-
/ NETS, cooked as follows: Cut into three
! men pieces two pounds of medium-sized
/ cleaned eels. Rub the inside of each niece
with salt. Let stand half an hour. then
/ parbou them. Boil an onion in a quart Of
| milk and remove the onion. Drain rhe
| eels from the water and add them To the
| milk. Season with half a teaspoonfnl ~
chopped parsley, salt and pepper and the
smallest bit of mace. Simmer until the
| Hesh falls from the bones
Fried eels should be slightly saIted before
| cooking them. Do not cover them with
batter, but dredge them with inst fionr
! enough TO absorb all moisture. then cover
them with boiling lard
As for the thousand and one recipes for
( COOKING