The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-03
Uncle Sam Tells Ho,D the
Fish May be Cooked and
Eaten and is Pa!atabie

A demonstration is being conducted
by experts from the government fish
cries on the cooking Of carp. One was
held here two weeks ago. For the
housewives who did not see the dem
tin issued by the fisheries bureau will
he Of interest:
In spite Of the richness of carp in
the valuable tissue-building material,
protein, the particular nutrient most
priced in meat, and in spite OF the
abundance Of carp in the waters of
the state Of Iowa, there seems to be
more or less local prejudice against
the use of this fish for food. This
prejudice is due to several causes:
The somewhat coarse texture of the
flesh; so-called muddy Or rank fla
vor; and the presence of numerous,
UNAUTHORIZED small bones, which are
imbedded in the flesh, unattached to
the main skeleton, and which, conse-
quently, render the eating of the flesh
unpleasant or even hazardous.
Because Of the possibility of OBJ
tanning this nutritious fish from To-
cal streams. and because Of the con-
stantly rising prices of foodstuffs,
especially meats, it has seemed wise
to undertake some experiments in the
cooking of carp to determine If pos
sible, general principles by which
palatable food may be prepared from
its flesh.
Making Fish Paatabie.
To accomplish this result, the d.
rect object of these cooking expert
ments has been two fold: first, to dis
cover methods whereby the flavor OF
carp may be made pleasing through
overcoming the rank or muddy taste
Of the flesh, and simultaneously, the
texture of the flesh improved second,
to discover some means by which the
danger from the so-called loose bones
may be lessened or obviated entirely.
Success rewarded these efforts.
Properly cooked. carp is a well-flavor-
ed fish of good texture, and one which
need not be Stunned because of the
dangerous forked bones.
The cooked flesh Of the carp con-
sists of both light and dark parts.
quite similar to the flesh of the blue
fish, and since carp is so well flavor
ed when cooked to turn, 1t is quite
conceivable that in the hands of the
experienced chef, this despised fish of
sluggish waters may well put on new
dignity and play the part Of the aris-
tocratic bluefish of the ocean: in fact
it does not appear at all impossible,
nor improbable, that carp may be in
the habit Of performing this part on
divers occasions. If this be true, 1t is
unfortunate that the housewives of
Iowa are not making use of this easily
obtained product of the prairie
streams, a product which may, in their
experienced hands, become delicate
tidbit.
Effect Of Removing Skin.
In order to determine the serious
ness Of the rank taste of carp, taste
likely to be very prominent in these
large fish, dressed, but with skin left
on, one was boiled without salt or other
flavoring agent. Carp so cooked prov.
ed to be coarse in texture and more or
less rank in taste. Investigation indi-
Gated, that this rank taste was most
pronounced in the fat, and also near
the skin. Accordingly, two CORES
ponding pieces weighing about 1a
pound each were selected from a fish
one piece being skinned, but the other
not: these two pieces were boiled
separately. but without salt or other
flavoring agent, as in the preceding
experiment On comparing the cooked
flesh of the two pieces. the one from
which the skin had been removed
proved to be of good flavor, No rank
taste was observable. Evidently. one
means of greatly modifying the I'M
pleasant taste of carp lies in the re-
moval of skin and all visible fat be-
fore cooking. A series Of such ex-