COOKERY OF THE PIKE AND PERCH 267 



Constance, was named after the free-biting fish, which 

 attracted anglers and gastronomists as well, to discuss 

 in a double sense the take of the day at the jovial 

 supper, while they drained their flagons of beer to 

 the memory of the mighty dead. Finally, though 

 Rhine salmon is famous all the world over, there is 

 an old Rhenish proverb about the Rhine pike which 

 says that only the finer Rhenish vintages are worthy 

 of him. 



But though personally we have agreeable souvenirs 

 of savoury dishes, the praise of the pike may be easily 

 overdone, and that Rhenish proverb absurdly exag- 

 gerates. It is always a case of the two sides of the 

 shield, and the best of all sauces is a fisherman's 

 appetite. A good pike fresh caught, well chosen, and 

 carefully dressed is a capital dish ; a coarse fish, 

 treated no better than his deserts, is simply detestable. 

 Much depends on the pike being in season. After 

 the spawning in the spring it loses colour and sub- 

 stance, the flesh becomes flabby, and for a time it is 

 absolutely uneatable. It comes slowly into condition 

 again with the warmth of the summer, and is at its 

 best m the fall of the year or even in the early winter. 



When pike were served by the hundred at 

 mediaeval banquets doubtless they were sent up au 

 natureL But already, as we have said, the study of 



