THE COMPLETE ANGLER 145 



First, open your pike al the gills, and, if need be, cut also a 

 little slit towards the belly ; out of these take his guts and keep 

 his liver, which you are to shred very small with thyme, sweet- 

 marjoram, and a little winter-savory : to these put some pickled 

 oysters, and some anchovies, two or three, both these last whole ; 

 for the anchovies will melt, and the oysters should not : to these 

 you must add also a pound of sweet butter, which you are to mix 

 with the herbs that are shred, and let them all be w^ell salted : if 

 the pike be more than a yard long, then you may put into these 

 herbs more than a pound, or if he be less, then less butter will 

 suffice : these being thus mixed with a blade or two of mace, 

 must be put into the pike's belly, and then his belly so sewed up, 

 as to keep all the butter in his belly, if it be possible : if not, 

 then as much of it as you possibly can ; but take not off the 

 scales : then you are to thrust the spit through liis mouth out at 

 his tail ; and then take four, or five, or six split sticks or very 

 thin laths, and a convenient quantity of tape or filleting : these 

 laths are to be tied round about the pike's body from his head to 

 his tail, and the tape tied somewhat thick to prevent his breaking 

 or falling off from the spit : let him be roasted very leisurely, 

 and often basted with claret wine and anchovies and butter mixed 

 together, and also with what moisture falls from him into the pan : 

 when you have roasted him sufficiently, you are to hold under 

 him, when you unwind or cut the tape that ties him, such a dish 

 as you purpose to eat him out of; and let him fall into it with the 

 sauce that is roasted in his belly ; and by this means the pike 

 will be kept unbroken and complete : then, to the sauce which 

 was within, and also that sauce in the pan, you are to add a fit 

 quantity of the best butter, and to squeeze the juice of three or 

 four oranges ; lastly, you may either put into the pike with the 

 oysters two cloves of garlic, and take it whole out, when the pike 

 is cut off the spit ; or to give the sauce a haut-gout, let the dish 

 into which you let the pike fall, be rubbed with it : the using or 

 not using of this garlic is left to your discretion. 



M. B.* 



This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very 



* Who this M. B. was. has not been discovered. Am. Ed. 

 8 



