The frugal housewife; or, experienced cook : wherein the art of dressing all sorts of viands with cleanliness, decency, and elegance is explained in five hundred approved receipts ... / originally written by Susanna Carter, but now improved by an experienced cook in one of the principal taverns in the city of London.
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Fish in Season. a small bone or knob, it is right; if not it is a hare ; for the rest observe as in a hare. A rabbit, if stale, will be limber and slimy; if new, white and stiff: if old, her claws are long and rough, the wool mottled with grey hairs ; if young, claws and wool smooth. FISH IN SEASON. Christmas Quarter. Lobsters, crabs, craw-fish, river craw-fish, guard-fish; mackerel, bream, barbel roach, shad or alloc,lamprey or lamper-eels, dace, bleak, pawns, and horse mackerel. The eels that are taken in running water are better than pond eels : of these the silver ones are most esteemed. Mifisummer Quarter. Turbot, trout, soals, grigs, shaf- flings and glout, tenes, salmon, dolphin, flying-fish, sheep- head, tollis, both land and sea, sturgeon, scale, chub, lobsters, and crabs. Sturgeon is commonly found in the northern seas; but now and then we find them in our great rivers, the Thames, the Severn, and the Tyne. This fish is of a large, size, and will sometimes measure eighteen feet in length. They are much esteemed when fresh, cut in pieces, roasted, baked, or pickled for cold treats. The caveer is es- teemed a dainty, which is the spawn of this fish. The lat- ter end of this quarter come smelts. Michaelmas Quarter. Cod, haddock, coal-fish, white and pouting hake, lyng, tuske, mullet, red and grey, weaver, gurnet, rocket, herring, sprats,soals, flounders, plaise, dabs, smeare-dabs, eels, chars, scate, thomback, homlyn, kinson, oysters, scollops, salmon, sea-perch and carp, pike, tench, and sea-tench. Scate-maids are black, and thoruback-maids white. Gray bass comes with the mullet. In this quarter are fine smelts, and holds till after Christmas. There are two sorts of mullets, the sea-mullet and the river-mullet both equally good.