COOKERY OF THE PIKE AND PERCH 265 



on the dinner. There was the double interest of 

 watching the dragging of the net, with the floundering 

 of the victims in the bag as it was drawn into the 

 gravelly shallows, and the careful selection of some 

 eligible fish, weighing from five to six pounds, short 

 in the body, thick in the shoulders, ruddy in the gills, 

 bright in the scales, and springy to the touch. He 

 was crimped forthwith, bleeding deliberately in the 

 ice-cold water, after the scientific prescription of Sir 

 Humphry Davy, and then sent forthwith by mes- 

 senger to the lodge for treatment by the cordon bleu. 

 Of course pike, like every fish that swims, should 

 be cooked as soon as possible. But it has this in 

 common with the salmon and the cod, that if it be 

 kept cool it is excellent eating on the second day, 

 and indeed when the first and best opportunity has 

 been missed, for a time it rather recovers condition. 

 Chemists say it is never so wholesome as when fresh, 

 and that we may easily believe ; but sportsmen and 

 travellers in mountainous districts abroad have gene- 

 rally fair digestions. 



For many agreeable reminiscences of the pike are 

 associated with Continental touring. He has not 

 sanctified for pilgrimage any special locality, like the 

 sterlet of the Volga, the trout of the Wolfsbrunnen, 

 the crayfish of Vaucluse, or the oysters of the Lucrine 



