Fish and cooking

Fish that is not fresh is a very dangerous food and great care should betaken in selecting only fish fit to eat. If the fish is hard in body andthe eyes are clear and bright, the gills a bright red and slimy, theflesh so firm that when pressed the marks of the fingers do not remain,the scales not dry or easy to loosen, then the fish is fresh.
In the refrigerator fish will taint butter and other foods if placed inthe same compartment, so that in most cases it is better to lay it on aplate on a pan of ice, or wrap it in parchment or waxed paper and put itin the ice box.
Pickerel weighing more than five pounds should not be bought. If bellyis thick it is likely that there is another fish inside. This smallerfish or any found in any other fish may not be used as food.
Salt fish should be soaked in fresh water, skin side up, to draw out thesalt.
Each fish is at its best in its season, for instance:--
Bluefish, Butterfish, Sea, Striped Bass, Porgies, Sea-trout or Weakfishare best from April to September.
Fluke and Flounders are good all year round, but the fluke is betterthan the flounder in summer. Carp may be had all year, but care must betaken that it has not been in polluted water.
Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Redsnapper, Salmon, Whitefish are goodall year.
In the different states of the United States there are laws governingthe fishing for trout, so the season for that fish differs in thevarious states.
Black Bass, Perch, Pickerel and Pike are in season from June 1st toDecember 1st.
Shad, April to June.
Smelts, November 10th to April.