Fish, how to choose the best in market.

[fish, salmon, shad, black fish, oyster, flounder, bass, cod, haddock, eel, hannah hill, perch, roach, trout, eel]





Salmon, the noblest and richest fish taken in fresh water--the largest are the best. They are unlike almost every other fish, are ameliorated by being 3 or 4 days out of water, if kept from heat and the moon, which had much more injurious effect than the sun.
 
In all great fish markets, great fish-mongers strictly examine the gills--if the bright redness is exchanged for a low brown, they are stale; but when live fish are brought flouncing into market, you have only to elect the kind most agreeable to your palate and the season. 
 
Shad, contrary to the generally received opinion are not so much richer flavored, as they are harder when fish taken out of water; opinions vary respecting them. I have tasted Shad thirty or forty miles from the place where caught, and really conceived that they had a richness of flavor, which did not appertain to those taken fresh and cooked immediately, and have proved both at the same table, and the truth may rest here, that a Shad 36 or 48 hours out of water, may not cook so hard and solid, and be esteemed so elegant, yet give a higher relished flavor to the taste. 
 
Every species generally of salt water Fish, are best fresh from the water, though the Hannah Hill, Black Fish, Oyster, Flounder, Bass, Cod, Haddock, and Eel, with many others, may be transported by land many miles, find a good market, and retain a good relish; but as generally, live ones are bought first, deceits are used to give them a freshness of appearance, such as peppering the gills, wetting the fins and tails, and even painting the gills, or wetting with animal blood. Experience and attention will dictate the choice of the best. Fresh gills, full bright eyes, moist fins and tails, are denotements of their being fresh caught; if they are soft, its certain they are stale, but if deceits are used, your smell must approve or denounce them, and be your safest guide.
Of all fresh water fish, there are none that require, or so well afford haste in cookery, as the Salmon Trout, they are best when caught under a fall or cateract--from what philosophical circumstance is yet unsettled, yet true it is, that at the foot of a fall the waters are much colder than at the head; Trout choose those waters; if taken from them and hurried into dress, they are genuinely good; and take rank in point of superiority of flavor, of most other fish. 
 
Perch and Roach, are noble pan fish, the deeper the water from whence taken, the finer are their flavors; if taken from shallow water, with muddy bottoms. They are impregnated therewith, and are unsavory. 
 
Eels, though taken from muddy bottoms, are best to jump in the pan. 
 
Most white or soft fish are best bloated, which is done by salting, peppering and drying in the sun, and in a chimney; after 30 or 40 hours of drying, are best broiled, and moistened with butter, &c. 


American Cookery
Amelia Simmons
1798

Northampton
Massachusetts

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