628 >'• S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



solling's method of icing fish 



A refinement in the method of icing fish was devised by Soiling 93 

 to avoid, as far as possible, the known causes of spoiling in iced fish; 

 namely, the access of bacteria to the fish through the air and melting- 

 ice and the leaching action of the water from the melting ice. He 

 also found, what Tressler 0G later determined by more precise scientific 

 analysis to be a fact, that the blood of fish is more prone to spoil 

 than is the muscle tissue, and that if blood is early and carefully 

 removed the fish will be more perfectly preserved. 



Soiling's method is as follows: The fish must be gutted and bled 

 and the gills removed as soon as possible after the fish are caught. 

 The sound must be split lengthwise to insure removal of the blood 

 underneath, and the fish should be split behind the vent so that all 

 accumulations of blood may be removed. The fish are then washed 

 and scrubbed inside and out with a stiff brush and clean sea water 

 or in a solution of 4 or 5 per cent salt in fresh water until all blood 

 is removed. The fish is then laid aside to drain, care being taken 

 that no water is left in the belly cavity. 



Each fish is then carefully wrapped in vegetable parchment 

 paper — a paper that does not disintegrate in water. The paper is 

 cut square, and each dimension is at least one and one-half times the 

 length of the fish. The wrapped fish are then packed in crushed ice. 

 The fish are chilled by the ice but are protected from the water and 

 air and consequently from bacterial infection. 



Soiling packed experimentally 147 soles, turbot, brill, plaice, lemori 

 sole, and Avitches (a) gutted, wrapped, and iced; (b) not gutted, but 

 wrapped and iced; (c) gutted, not wrapped, but iced; (d) not 

 gutted, not wrapped, but iced. Ten days later the fish (a) were still 

 perfectly white and firm, with no odor, skin not discolored, and most 

 of the fish had retained their stiffness (rigor mortis). The fish (&) 

 were in most cases damaged inside. The fish (c) and (d) were soft, 

 stale, and their skin was discolored. Fifteen days after being packed 

 seven different kinds of the fish (a) were cooked and found to be 

 perfectly fresh and of good flavor. 



A lot of halibut,' caught in Davis Strait and packed by Soiling's 

 method, were shipped to Peterhead, thence by rail to Grimsby, where 

 they fetched a comparatively high price three weeks after capture. 



It is hardly to be doubted that such care in preparation will pro- 

 duce the results indicated, and there is little doubt that the care 

 would be repaid. Improvements such as this must come in time as 

 fish become dearer and the demand more fastidious; but whether or 

 not this method can be applied on our fishing vessels as they are 

 now constructed and operated is doubtful, indeed. 



95 A. Soiling. "An Improved and Practical Method of Packing Fish for Transportation." 

 Bulletin, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. XXVII, 1907 (1908), pp. 295-301. Washing- 

 ton, 1910. See also, by the same author, "An improved and practical method of packing 

 gutted fish for transportation keeping it fresh for a lengthened period." Premier 

 Congres International du Froid, Paris, 5-12 Octobre. 1908'. Rapports et Communications. 

 Sections I. II, et III, 2e Tome pp. 1072-1077. Paris. See also Second International 

 Congress of Refrigeration, Vienna, 1910, pp. 375-378. 



00 D. K. Tressler, "Some Considerations Concerning the Salting of Fish." Appendix V. 

 Report. U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1919. Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 

 884, 55 pp. Washington, 1920. 



