COOKERY OF THE PIKE AND PERCH 



THE pike is a wonderful example of the beneficent 

 alchemy of nature. The tyrant of the fresh water, as old 

 Walton calls him, he is the most voracious of freshwater 

 fishes and the most omnivorous of feeders. His 

 is not the sort of diet the fastidious gourmet would 

 approve for cramming Alsatian geese or fattening 

 cooped-up capons, and yet the results of his pro- 

 miscuous foraging are not unsatisfactory. He 

 understands his own constitution and digestion, and 

 makes the best of himself and his opportunities. 

 Greedy feeder as he is, he is often excellent eating, 

 though much depends on the age and the breeding 

 ground and very much more on the manner of 

 dressing. The old monkish chroniclers pronounced 

 him 'wholesome meat,' and many modern doctors 

 have agreed with them. 



As Walton says, ' the old or very great pike have 

 in them more of state than goodness ; the smaller or 

 middle-sized pikes, being by the most and choicest 



