Cooking Your Catch - A Handy Guide to Cleaning, Scaling, Gutting, Dressing, Curing, Smoking, Kippering and Drying - Including Some Serving Suggestions

CLEANING FISH

Scaling Fish

Anglers should endeavor to keep their quarry moist from the time it leaves the water till it is to be cleaned, and not until after the gills and insides are removed should it be washed. Always scale a fish before the fins are cut, or the inside slit open, otherwise scaling is not done so quickly or so neatly. There are various fish scalers sold in the tackle shops, and that shown in cut is among the best. It is neat and compact, the sharp point being useful, though, to my mind, such a tool should close. If such a tool be not handy, use a blunt knife, near the haft. To scale a fish well, grasp the tail in the left hand, or pin the tail down on a board, scaling hard and quick as the scales slip out of their sockets easier by so doing. Scrape around all parts on both sides, then cut off the fins with a sharp knife or shears, and wipe the fish clean and dry with a cloth. The gills should then be cut from the lower jaw and back of the head, a slit being made from the head along the lower body to the vent. The gills being pulled will at the same time draw the insides away, and if done with care, a perfectly clean inside is the result. In most fish (if fresh) the blood is encased in a thin skin close to the backbone and can be pulled away entire. A fish so treated can and should be prepared without the use of water. After being cleaned and scaled it should be well washed in two waters, to thoroughly divest it of all slime and blood. If it is a fresh-water fish it can be placed in a vessel of salt and water to soak for half an hour; if they are coarse fish, caught in quiet, stagnant pools (such as carp, catfish, perch, eels, and pickerel), an hour’s soak is better. Afterward they should be taken out of the bath, dried with a clean cloth, and they are ready for cooking. To skin eels, catfish, perch, etc., a slit is made a short distance down the back from the head; then take a pinch of salt or sand between the fingers, to stop the skin from slipping, pull steadily toward the lower part of the fish on one side and then on the other. This should be done before the belly is cut open, or else it tears away the shoulder bone. When the skin is pulled down to the lower under-fin, pull from the other side; then take both sides together, and it will tear off from the tail in one piece. This refers to the catfish, perch, and eels. After a good grip is secured the skin comes off entire from the body of an eel without trouble.

Fish knife and scaler.

Washing and Cleaning Fish

To Skin Fish

To Fillet a Fish

To fillet a fluke or flounder, before cleaning get a good sharp knife with a point, and cut along the backbone of the fish from head to tail; then shave it close to the bone, taking the fillet in the left hand as it leaves the fish; begin likewise on the other side and repeat the same. Turn over the fish, taking away two more