308 SPANISH MACKEREL. 



SPANISH MACKEREL. 



There is no better fish to eat or more difficult 

 one to catch than the Spanish mackerel. For an 

 occasional meal, the rich and luscious salmon may 

 be his superior on the table, as he certainly is on the 

 line. But with frequent use the salmon palls on 

 the palate, and many persons cannot live on them 

 even in the woods with the stimulating sauce of 

 hunger, and when the only choice is between fresh 

 salmon and salt pork. To be good, this as well as 

 every kind of fish must be properly cooked, not 

 necessarily with wine, mushrooms, and all man- 

 ner of disguises or improvements, but with due 

 attention to the immutable laws of fire and food. 

 No fish is better prepared than when it has been 

 plainly boiled, if it is accompanied with a good 

 drawn butter sauce, but whether boiled or broiled, 

 fried or baked, if correctly cooked none is more 

 delicate and delicious than the Spanish mackerel. 



He is hard to catch, unless he is pursued with a 

 net, which is the most certain mode of taking all 

 species of the inhabitants of the water, not that as 

 fine tackle or as much skill is required- as with the 

 trout or salmon, but for the reason that he is so 

 shy. Some years ago Spanish mackerel were so 

 abundant on the southerly shore of Long Island 

 that boats, when fishing for blue-fish, would sail 

 through miles of schools of them, but rarely were 



