CANNING SARDINES 103 
after such improvements as can be made are effected, frying oil will 
continue to take on undesirable properties, and very likely it will con- 
tinue to be used longer than it should be, because in this way frying 
can be cheapened still further. ‘“Old”’ oil will continue to get into the 
eanned product as before and be equally objectionable. Because of 
these facts, it did not seem best to continue the investigation in this 
field. Instead, it seemed more practical to endeavor to avoid frying 
in oil by the use of some other process of preparing the fish, which 
would, if possible, produce better and cheaper sardines. The rest of 
this document deals with the endeavors along this line, 
METHODS OF PREPARING THE FISH 
INTRODUCTION 
The study upon changes in oil used for frying sardines showed that, 
although very helpful improvements in the frying procedure can be 
made, certain difficulties probably will continue to be troublesome. 
For this reason elimination of the necessity of cooking in oil as a step 
in the preparation of sardines for canning presented a most desirable 
field for investigation. This was especially true in California, where, 
at the time of planning this particular work (1921), considerable 
interest was evident (yet little was known) as to methods of accom- 
plishing this end. Little, too, was known about how well fish pre- 
pared in other ways than cooking in oil would withstand shipment and 
storage. No commercial attempt with a substitute method had yet 
been satisfactory. Cooking in oil had already been eliminated by 
most canneries in Maine because a steamed pack was cheaper to pre- 
pare. Steaming, however, as done there, was generally believed to 
be unsuitable for California. 
In this investigation three substitute methods of preparing the fish 
for making California pound-oval and quarter-oil packs were studied. 
Procedures were developed for each of them and packs were prepared, 
stored, and shipped. These substitute methods ordinarily are referred 
to as cooking in brine, steaming, and raw packing. In order that these 
methods may readily be compared with frying in oil, the advantages 
and disadvantages of the latter process are discussed first. 
FRYING IN OIL 
The steps involved and the changes that occur in frying in oil are 
described in detail in the introduction (pp. 73 to 85). The advan- 
tages and disadvantages of this process are summarized here for com- 
parison with those of other processes. 
Advantages.—The cooking-in-oil process, especially as a means of 
preparing fish for the pound-oval pack, is as nearly ‘‘foolproof”’ as 
one can reasonably expect any process to be. A wide variety of con- 
ditions in the various steps of preparation can be depended upon to 
prepare the fish so that they will give a pack of at least fair quality. 
Because of this, the canneries are able to operate almost wholly with 
unskilled labor. 
The lubricating effect of the cooking oil prevents serious sticking 
of the fish to each other and to the wire baskets. They can be stacked 
quite thickly in baskets, and this enables a large quantity of cooked 
