Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-06

Master, marvel how hShes live
in the sea! Why as men do o land;
the great ones eat up the little
ones."-PericleS.
IL, as has been said, the constant
eating OF fish leaves a physical effect,
then from all accounts Germany to-
day should be one large scale. Meat
there is scarce and high even the do
mestic animals having been ordered
killed some time ago. We have not
quite reached such desperate straits.
We still have enough scraps to feed
our dogs and cats but 1t would be
well for us to emulate the Teutonic
nation and serve more fish and sea
food upon our tables not only because
this is the Lenten season of self-de-
NAL, but because of the poor, long
suffertng family pocketbook.
Fish, with the exception of salmon,
mackerel and eels, is very easily di-
gested. We often force 1t upon chill
dren as brain food" needed to help
them with their studies, 1t contains
phosphorus, an clement abounding
largely in nerve tissue but, even more
important, it is not a form of food to
lump into an undigested mass in little
stomachs causing irritability, lassiture
and lack of concentrating power.
The meat of fish is, in most cases,
Unlike flesh food, however, it should
be eaten fresh and in season. Turbot
is the only fish which is improved by
keeping.
Care Should Be Taken In Purchase
When purshasing fish in the open
market care should be taken to see
that the flesh is firm and the eyes and
gills bright. The duller the eyes and
softer the body, the longer the fish
has been dead. These signs are more
important to the housewife than the
odor, because the strong "fishy smell
is characteristic of all water food at
all times. For this reason fish should
never be kept in the ice box with other
eatibles unless closely covered. But
ter and milk, especially, absorb odors.
a lard pail with a tightly fitting lid is
the best kind of a recepticle to use for
the fish if il is necessary to put it into
the general refrigerator.
Sometimes, as with smelts for in
stance, we purchase fish frozen to-
gether. This is not as desirable as if
they could be obtained soon after the
haul, but when bought frozen they
should be kept so until just before
cooking, when they should he thawed
out in cold water,
To make this easily digested food
even more safe in the process of di-
gestion, it should be boiled, broiled or
baked. The dry meat of white fish may
be sometimes fried but not the oily
kind. BY white fish 1 mean cod, had
dock, trout, founder, perch, smelt,
etc. Their fat is mostly secreted in the
liver. The oily kind of fish whose fat
is distributed throughout the whole
body is, for example, salmon, eel, blue
fish, shad, mackerel, etc. Naturally,
when cooked in shotening, these oils
unite with it, causing fish to fairly
swim in grease and unless fried very
brown and dry it becomes hard to
digest.
I Oysters Not Expensive
Oysters in season are not expensive
and can be prepared in many appetiz-
ing ways They contain an animal
starch called glycogen which makes
them of food value These mollusks
are five years old before they are suit
able for eating and their natural beds
are found in shallow salt water hav-
ing stony bottom along the entire At
lantic coast. To really taste an oyster
one should wade knee deep into the
clear green water, find the gray mot
tied shell and lifting it pry it open
with thin stone, sucking oyster and
ocean in one long glorious gulp. The
little gems of the oyster family are
the Blue Points named for Blue Point
Long Island, from which place they
originally came. They are small
plump and sweet and they soon be-
came so popular that the demand eX-
ceeded the supply and now any oyster
of the same general style passes for a
Blue Point Most of our oysters are
large and sold by the quart minus
their shells but they are sold by the
count farther south.
CLANS, scallops, crabs and shrimps
are other shell fish of appetizing flavor
and value as food, while not too eX-
pensive, in season, for the general
pocketbook. Lobsters are delicious to
the palate but, being coarse feeders
themselves, frequently play havoc
with the human gastric organs. Ex-
cept in certain localities in New Eng
land, they usually sell at a pretty stiff
price. Cleaning a fish is job detested
by the average housewife. Personally
/ dread the wounds of the sharp fins
or tail more than any part of the oper-
alton, except the removal of the
scales. These have a most objection
able way of evading ones utmost
vigilance, even when you slant the
knife according to directions, and
hide in the butter or the bread tray to
be discovered later to the chagrin of
the housewife. / recommend all fish
not cleaned by the dealer being turn
ed over to the masterful hand of the
lord of the manor to be made ready
for the stove. The cook books blythely
give directions of how to loosen the
skin and readily draw 1t of" but 1t
seems to be a knack amounting to an
art.
Table of chemical food values of
common fish:
Mineral
Proteid Fat Matter Water
Fresh Cod 8. q 6 1877
Salmon ....12.4 81 % 39.4
Shad .... 90 as z 35.2
Mackerel 10. 4.3 z 40.4
Smells -. 10. !. l. 1901
Trout ...... 9.S IL 6 40.4
Boiled Cod
Have from two to three pounds of
r,d n,,f in cnIid roiaca Mrnr, In, n