[7j SALTING FISH IN JUTLAND. 417 



cording to ciicumstauces, lor cue or two days. Alter the lisli have become 

 half dry they are always kept in press during the night. If there is a 

 chance to sell the fish quickly, it is thougiit, at least in Denmark, tliat 

 it is unnecessary to cure the fish so hard, and it may possibly be sulli- 

 cient to press the fish during the night. In Iceland klip fish is consid- 

 ered ready for the market when the flesh is so elastic that no impres- 

 sions remain anywhere when the point of the finger is pressed against 

 the fish. Salt fish and klip-fish should be stored in a dry place where 

 there is no draft. 



We will now give some information relative to the i)reparing of klip- 

 fish on the west coast of Jutland, furnished by a member of the Asso- 

 ciation for the Promotion of Fisheries in Denmark: 



" As soon as the fish have been landed they are cut open, carefully 

 cleaned, and laid in large vessels with a layer of Lisbon salt between 

 every two layers of fish ; about 1,600 pounds of salt are used for every 

 100 codfish ; and the fish remain in the salt from 6 to 8 days. They are 

 then taken out of the salt and stacked in heaps, each holding about 

 100. The following day, if the weather is dry, the fish are sjiread out 

 in a dry and even place in the fields, which is first covered with a thin 

 layer of fresh straw so that the fish may not be injured by the moisture 

 of the grass. In the course of three or four days the fish are dry enough 

 to be piled uj) in heaps until the drying process proper begins. Had- 

 dock are treated in the same manner, 320 pounds of salt being used for 

 200 or 240 fish, according to size. Of late years klip-fish, especially 

 cod, have found a ready sale and bronglit good prices. Haddock, which 

 are generally very small, have, as salt fish, not met with a steady de- 

 mand, and have frequently had to be sold fresh. It will be < vident 

 that it will not jiay to salt haddock, when we state that they cost on 

 the shore from IG to 20 cents per 20 fish, and that it takes from 40 to 50 

 salt haddock to make a lispund [IC pounds], and that the jjrice for cured 

 haddock is onl^^ from 2i to 3^ cents a pound." 



Salting in brine. — The so-called Jaherdan (brine-salted fish) is prin- 

 cipally prepared from cod and ling. As regards the cleaning and trim- 

 ming of the fish the same rules apply as have been given above ; only 

 the salting is different. In preparing this article it is still more impor- 

 tant that the fish should be killed as soon as they come out of the water, 

 and that the curing process should begin at once. After the fish have 

 been trimmed and washed they are packed tightly in solid barrels, the 

 skin side downward, the fish bent to follow the curve of the barrel and 

 the tail bent upward. Salt is put at the bottom of the barrel and be- 

 tween every layer of fish. The barrel is packed so full that several lay- 

 ers are above the edge; the uppermost layer must be turned with the 

 skin side upward. The fish are then allowed to stand for several days 

 in order to settle; and when they are taken up, the slime is carelnlly 

 removed with brushes, and they are salted over again in difierent bar- 

 rels, with a fresh supply of salt. They are tightly packed and again 

 H. Mis. 08 27 



