T26 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



fresh brine (or salt) being added from time to time. Tiiese casks 

 are kept in cold storage at about 35° F. during pickling. They 

 are then removed and repacked with fresh brine and again placed 

 in cold storage. When required for smoking, the fish are desalted 

 by short soaking and then smoked as above. 



Sometimes the fish are cut into slices and smoked. 



199. In India cold storage is not generally if ever possible, and 

 indeed the elaborate procedure observed in the U.S.A., especially 

 as regards mild-cured fish, seems unnecessary. The hard-cured 

 fish at Tanur are only kept in salt for a day or two and can then 

 be well smoked either in slow or in rapid smoke according to 

 desire and the needs of the market. The ' light-cured ' fish pre- 

 pared at Tanur are only kept in brine for a few minutes or hours — 

 according to the fish and cure required — and are then surface 

 dried before smoking ; if they are large fish i/i slices, the brining 

 is very short, with smoking according to need; see the Fisheries 

 revised bulletin on "The Curing and Preservation of Fish.' 

 Ordinarily when light-cured fish are intended for canning they will 

 be prepared and smoked at the cannery itself, but it is obvious 

 that since even light-cured and smoked fish will keep good for 

 some days, the cannery can draw upon other yards for its supplies ; 

 still more so where hard-cured and smoked fish are to be canned. 



These smoked fish should be a very acceptable delicacy 

 especially in India where a savoury product is so much appreciated. 



It may here be added that when the various fish-curing yards 

 prepare light cured fish as at Tanur, canneries will be able to 

 draw upon such yards for supplies in addition to their own, for 

 light-cured fish when desalted will be found useful in many classes 

 of canning, especially for pastes and smoked goods ; light-cured 

 mackerel or large fish can be desalted and either marinated, 

 curried, or even put up plain. 



200. Fish extracts.— There is a method of utilizing oysters, and 

 probably mussels, and canning (or bottling) the products, which 

 has never yet been tried in this country, viz., the preparation of 

 'extracts,' like Liebig's " extract of meat," from these shell fish. 

 Possibly extracts from other fish are also feasible but no mention 

 of such extracts is found in the text-books, except of course in 

 cookery books where fish soups are common. 



The extracts prepared in America from clams (Mya arenaria 

 and Venus mercenaria) are said to be even more nourishing and 



