BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 139 



64— BOW TO €OOK CARP AND TEIVCH. 



[From Chambers' Journal.] 



Carp, after being kept a few days alive in water free from the vege- 

 table substances upon which they feed, become a luscious and nutritious 

 dish even cooked au naturel ; but with sorrell sauce or a squeeze of 

 lemon, are converted into a recherche entree. The false tongue of the 

 carp has a European reputation as a delicacy. There are special recipes 

 for dressing carp, which from their expensive character are not appro- 

 piiate here. With the economical Germans, however, they are peculiar 

 favorites, and from them we have the following method of making three 

 excellent dishes — a soup, a stew, and a fry, with a single carp of about 

 o or 4 pounds weight, of each of which we can speak highly from per- 

 jsonal experience. 



Soup. — They take a live carp, either hard or soft roed, and killing it 

 by a blow on the head, bleed it in a stew-pan, then scale it well, taking 

 out and carefully preserving the entrails without breaking the gall, 

 Avhich, with the parts adjoining, must be immediately separated from 

 the rest, and thrown aside, as its slightest contact with the rest of the 

 dish would injuriously flavor the whole. Ev^ery other part of the carp 

 is convertible into excellent food. Having opened the maw, and 

 thoroughly cleaned it, the roe is cut into pieces, and put in with all the 

 rest of the entrails for the soup of the first dish. This soup is either 

 made with the addition of gravy or strong meat broth, accompanied by 

 herbs and spices, well seasoned, and thickened with flour; or, when 

 intended as a meager dish, with that of a strong broth of any other 

 kind passed through the sieve, a bundle of sweet herbs, and a season- 

 ing of fine spices, salt, &c. 



Stew. — For the second dish, or stew, having slit up the carp on one 

 side of the backbone, through the head, and quite down to the tail, cut 

 oft' the head with a good shoulder to it; take the largest half of the 

 body, containing the backbone, and divide it into three pieces, which, 

 with its portion of the head, are to be put with the blood in the stew- 

 pan, where they are dressed in any of the numerous ways of stewing 

 fish, by putting in three or four glasses of ale in lieu of wine, and a little 

 grated gingerbread, and sometimes only a small quantity of vinegar, 

 adding sweet herbs, spices, and seasoning to palate. When serving up 

 tliis dish, it is not unusual to add a little lemon or lime juice. 



Feted. — For the fry, or third dish, the remaining portion of the fish, 

 divided as for a stew, is well dredged with flour, and fried brown and 

 crisp in oil or clarified butter. Thus, particularly if a few savory force- 

 meat balls, composed in the usual manner with the fish which makes 

 the broth or gravy, be boiled in the soup, there is a dish not far removed 

 from the richest turtle soup; a second dish in the stew may easily be 



