268 COOKERY OF THE PIKE AND PERCH 



cookery as a fine art had made great progress, and 

 the monks, who were masters of the refinements of 

 good living, went the length of dieting the pike, 

 though there was no need to tempt their appetites. 

 They were fattened on eels till, like ' harts of grease,' 

 they came into the highest condition, for no creature 

 lays on fat and flesh faster. Naturally, those spoiled 

 nurslings of the stews had special attention in 

 the kitchen before passing on to the refectory. In 

 the 'Holkham Boke off Cookery' some curious recipes 

 are preserved. Here is one for ' Pyk in Braiselle ' : 



' To mak pik in braiselle chope the pik when he 

 is slit out ' by the way, the slitting out and gutting 

 must always be done as soon as possible '& let 

 the gebenes hang eche by othere then cast ther on 

 salt & rost it on a gredirn & mak a cerip of the 

 graue of the pik with sugur clowes maces pynes & 

 alay it with chips of bred drond with wine powder 

 guingyure canelle & colour it with safTrin put ther 

 to venygar then lay the fishe in a chargiuir & pour 

 on the ceripe & serue it.' 



The writer does not trouble about punctuation, 

 and the orthography is strangely capricious. ' Gebenes ' 

 are slices or fillets ; pynes are certainly not pine- 

 apples, though supposed to be fruit of some sort, 

 and probably mulberries. Then there is a recipe for 



