Miles. — Defense of the Dogfish 55 



about everybody else seemed to think they were, that he 

 Jay aside his prejudice long enough to give the matter at 

 least one honest test. 



Before you do this, however, I beg of you that you let 

 me advise you carefully as to how the fish should be dressed 

 and made ready for cooking, for I would have the test a 

 fair one, otherwise the fish may be condemned on account 

 of its not having been properly prepared and for no fault 

 of its own. Not that any particular method is necessary for 

 the preparation of this particular fish, but a dogfish is large 

 and his body is round and thick, and if the dressing be not 

 properly done, the pieces of its flesh will not be cooked 

 through, and rare fish of any kind is an abomination. 



Many people have told me that they liked small bass but 

 not large ones, which they asserted tasted "mossy." I know 

 that the large bass was improperly dressed, otherwise, with 

 similar cooking, its flavor would have been exactly the same 

 as that of the smaller one. Others have said that they dis- 

 liked pickerel or pike. There is no finer fish in any of our 

 waters than these. They are just about as good as dogfish. 

 But the bodies of them are also round and thick, and they 

 can not be properly cooked if the skins be left on them and 

 the "backbones" be left inside them. And the same thing- 

 is true of all large fish, including carp, which, when properly 

 prepared, are very, very much better fish than you have 

 ever given them credit for being. 



But to return to our dogfish : First take the skin off him. 

 It is thick and tough and his flesh can not be well cooked 

 through it. You can do it more easily than you can take 

 off his scales, in the following manner : 



With a sharp pocket knife rip his hide down the belly 

 and back, from the head to the tail. Now tack his tail fast 

 to a board, cut the skin around the tail and start it with your 

 knife until you can grasp it with a pair of pincers ; then pull 

 steadily, following along and parting the skin from the 

 flesh lightly with the knife, as though you were skinning a 



