THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



ment. A well-planked pike is a dish fit for a hungry 

 fisherman. Save the plank; you will use it again. 



Pike Baked in Clay 



Here again it is possible to cook a whole fish, though 

 this method requires greater skill and forethought 

 than even the former. The first thing necessary is the 

 right kind of clay — red or blue. The second requisite 

 is the right kind of fire. Dig a long trench, consider- 

 ably longer than the fish, fill it with hard wood, and 

 burn down to coals. Keep this up until the trench is 

 full of glowing coals ; pile on some more hardwood, lots 

 of fuel, and go out and catch the muskellunge or great 

 pike, the larger the better. I put building the fire 

 first, for the cook cannot successfully — I nearly said 

 artistically — clay a large fish without first having had 

 a hot hardwood fire for at least six hours. The ground 

 — preferably sand — around the trench must be hot 

 and plenty of ashes and glowing coals all about. Ob- 

 viously a one-day stand is no place for clay-baking. 

 Time, patience, care, and right conditions are all 

 essential to success. 



Granted we have the right variety of brick clay. 

 Mix a mortar, somewhat moist. Lay the fish down in 

 the soft clay without scaling or eviscerating. Rub a 

 coating of the wet clay against the scales, filling the 

 gills and mouth. Do not use too much mortar for the 

 first coat. Dry by the fire for a few minutes and re- 

 peat the operation. Two or three — perhaps more — 

 coats will be required before the fish will be sufficiently 

 well encased. Dry between each coat. When the 

 whole fish is covered with a sheet of clay an inch or 

 so thick, lay it by the fire ten or fifteen minutes, turn- 



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