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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How to choose Fish.
Christmas Quarter. Dore, brile, gudgeons, gollin,smelts,
crouch, perch, anchovy, loach, scollops, wilks, periwin-
kles, cockles, mussels, geare, bearbet,and hollebet.
HOW TO CHOOSE FISH.
To chuse Salmon, Pike, Trent, Carp, Tench, Grailing,
Barbel, Chub, Fuff, Eel, Whiting, Smelt, Shad, <Sfc. All these
are known to be new or stale by the colour of their, gills
their easiness or hardness to open, the hanging or keeping
up of the fins, the standing out or sinking of the eyes,
and by smelling the gills.
Turbot. He is chosen by his thickness and plumpness :
and if his belly be of a cream colour, lie must spend well;
but if thin, and his belly of a bluish white, he will eat
very loose.
Cod and Codlings. Choose by his thickness towards the
head, and the whiteness of his flesh when it is cut: and so
of a codling.
Lyng. For dried lyng, chuse that which is thickest in
the poll, and the flesh of the brightest yellow.
Scute and Thornback. These are chosen bv their thickness,
and the she scate is the sweetest, especially if large.
Souls. These are chosen by their thickness and stiff-
ness. When their bellies are of a cream colour, they
spend the firmer.
Sturgeon. If it cuts without crumbling, and the veins
and gristles give a true blue where they appear, and
the flesh a perfect white, then conclude it to be good.
Fresh Herrings, and Mackerel. If their gills are of a
lively shining redness, their eyes stand full, and the fish is
stiff, then they are new ; but if dusky and faded, or sink-
ing and wrinkled, and tails limber, they are stale.
Lobsters. Choose by their weight; the heaviest are
best, if no water be in them; if new, the tail will pull
smart, like a spring ; if full the middle of the tail will be
full of hard, or red-skinned meat. A cock lobster is
known by the narrow back part of the tail, and the two
uppermost fins within his tail are stiff and hard ; but the
nen is soft, and the back of her tail broader.
Prawns, Shrimps, and Crab-fish. The two first, it stale,
will be limber, and cast a‘kind of slimy smell, their