514 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



on a movable stand, and are thus rolled into tbe apparatus through door number two. They are 

 kept there for a certain time under a certain degree of warmth, are rolled through the center 

 closet, and finally out through door number four. As the stands move on rollers the whole process 

 is done quickly and with great regularity."* 



FRYING THE FISH. After the fish have been dried to a suitable degree they are taken to the 

 frying room and arranged on small wire trays or baskets before they are immersed in the oil. The 

 frying pans are made of sheet-iron and are five or six feet long, two feet wide, and six inches deep. 

 Two of these are usually placed on a large brick furnace, being protected from the direct action of 

 the fire by sheet-iron plates. Oil is poured in the bottom of these pans until it covers them to a 

 depth of about two inches. After it has been raised to a temperature of a little over 200 the wire 

 frames on which the fish have been arranged are immersed in it. These frames are made of 

 galvanized iron wire and have long handles on either end by which they can be readily lifted. 



The frying requires from cue to two minutes, according to the dryuess of the fish. During 

 the frying any water that may remain in the herring is readily converted into steam, when it at 

 once ascends and escapes, its place being supplied by particles of oil. 



The oil generally used for frying is a superior grade of cotton-seed oil, though in some cases 

 the oil of different species of nuts is used. It can be used only a short time, as small particles of 

 fish are apt to remain in it, and these soon settle on the bottom of the pan, where they form a crust 

 which largely destroys the action of the heat, and by burning also injures the flavor of the oil. 

 On this account the pan 7iiust be frequently scraped to remove the coating, and a greater or less 

 quantity of new oil must be introduced. 



When the fish have been sufficiently cooked they are taken out and emptied on a table, where 

 they are allowed to drain and cool before they go to the packing room. In some instances they 

 are allowed to remain on the frames on which they have been fried until a greater part of the oil 

 has dripped from them, as the drainage is more perfect when they are left in this way. 



BOILING IN CLOSED VESSELS WHERE ADDITIONAL HEAT is OBTAINED BY THE USE OF 

 SUPERHEATED STEAM. Tbe method of frying employed by the French in their sardine canning 

 is very similar to that already described; but a new method of boiling where steam is employed 

 has recently been introduced and deserves mention in this connection. Mr. Walleni, after describ- 

 ing the methods of boiling in open pans, gives the following: 



"In order to save oil, and at the same time to accelerate the boiling process and make it pass 

 off in a cleaner and more even manner, new apparatus have recently been constructed, which are 

 heated by steam of an atmospheric pressure of 14 (in some even of 25). In this way the oil can 

 be kept at an even degree of temperature (+100 170 C.), and about 9,000 sardines can be boiled 

 in an hour in thirty to forty-five boilings. The quality of the sardines of course depends on a 

 careful and clean way of boiling them and on the quality of oil used. * * * In using the steam 

 apparatus a great deal of oil is saved, but only if the manufacture of 'sardines in oil' is carried 

 on on a large scale, for otherwise the expense for apparatus, boiler, &c., will swallow up all that 

 is saved in oil, and modern apparatus, with drying apparatus, steam-boiler, &c., having one to 

 forty kettles for boiling, costs 3,500 to 9,400 crowns [$938 to $2,519.20]. If, as is the case in large 

 factories, 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 of sardines are boiled yearly, a steam apparatus will save CO to 

 70 per cent, of oil. Instead of using 2^ kilograms of oil per 1,000 sardines, only 850 grams are 

 used, which, for 15,000,000 sardines, would be a saving of 20 kilograms of oil, valued at 19,000 to 

 21,000 crowns [$5,042 to $5,62SJ, not counting the higher price obtained for a better article." 



* Kujiport fra verdensiuLstillingoii 1*78 i Paris. | Oui de frausko fiskerier | og | noglo fi&keri-iudustrielle for- 

 holde | saint | skibsfartsafdeliugeu pa. udstilliugeu. | At' Fredrik M. Wallem. | Kand. jnr. Rapportcr for Norge ved 

 verdeuBudstillongen i Paris 1878. | Cluistiania, | 1880. | Translated by Herman Jacobsou. 



