PREFACE 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 



X. THE SMOKING OF HADDOCKS FOR CANADIAN MAEKETS— (Miss 



Olive G. Pattersox.) 



Salt and smoked haddock are too often -prepared, it is pointed out, from fish 

 inferior in quality or even tainted, whereas the best " finnans " can only be made from 

 fish in the freshest condition, kept cold, and cured by strict me1;hods. Finnan baddies 

 in Canada are often inferior because: (1) no vertebral cut is made; (2) smoke is not 

 sufficiently dense; (3) the fish are left from one to three days, in order to drain the 

 blood, etc., away, whereas one hour on ice would be sufficient. 



Various conditions were tested, namely, method of splitting, time in brine and 

 smoke, quality of brine and smoke. The studies included seven separate experi- 

 ments : — 



(1) Perfectly fresh fish cured by usual New Brunswick methods. 



(2) Salt constant, but smoke varied. 



(3) Smoke constant, but brine varied. 



(4) Small fish, under variations of both conditions. 



(5) Preservative value and palatability of salt content. 



(6) Hake experiment. 



(7) Proof that dorsal incision is most desirable after the usual splitting. 



Fish up to four pounds require one hour in the brine, but thirty minutes suffices 

 to preserve excellent flavour, and smoking (beech, or old wood sawdust) for ten hours 

 is sufficient, but fifteen to eighteen hours dries more thoroughly, for preserving. Adja- 

 cent home markets and more distant markets require appropriate variation in details. 



XI. OBSERVATIONS OF HADDOCKS, ETC.— 

 (Prof. F. C. Harrison). 



Rigid bacteriological methods were followed in the study of material obtained 

 from haddocks, caught one or two miles from St. Andrew's station; and some 

 other material, fresh and cured, from the market. 



An examination of the intestinal content of twelve haddocks was made, and 

 microscopically numerous small bacilli, of at least ten species, could be determined, 

 but no cocci or spirilla were observed. The most common bacillus, a liquefying form, 

 seemed to be related closely to B. vulgaris. It is especially interesting, because it was 

 found in the flesh, as well as on the surface, of the finnan baddies, which were experi- 

 mented with at the station, and also on some spoiled haddock from a fish dealer. 

 Fragments of the flesh of cured haddock were placed in inoculation flasks, and plate 

 cultures secured. Four of the organisms then discovered were similar to those from 

 the intestinal content. The researches show that salting and smoking fish does not 

 kill the organisms on fresh fish, after they are gutted; but it is undeniable that there 

 is too much carelessness in handling fish commercially. Exposure to warm air and 

 sunlight, before gutting and salting, increases the bacteria. 



