FISH AND FAST DAYS 



359 



greatest and most approved of all sauces. The anchovy 

 is a Mediterranean fish ; it is taken in small numbers in 

 sprat-nets in the English Channel and in the Dutch 

 Zuyder Zee. So-called " Norwegian anchovies " are not 

 anchovies, but are small sprats. When taken fresh and 

 cooked and eaten, the anchovy has a very bitter, 

 unpleasant flavour, which can be washed out of it by 

 splitting the fresh fish and letting it lie in salt and water. 

 It was this practice of washing out the bitterness which 

 led the Mediterranean fisher-folk to discover that if left 

 for some time in moderately strong brine the anchovy 

 develops a wonderfully appetizing flavour, and becomes 

 dark red in colour, whilst the liquid also becomes red. 

 I believe that, although it would be easy to do so, it has 

 not been ascertained whether the red colour is due to a 

 direct action of the salt upon the blood-pigment of the 

 fish — as is the red colour of salt beef — or whether it is 

 due to a special red-colour-making bacterium, as is the 

 case with salted dried cod, which is sometimes rendered 

 unsaleable by this red growth. However that may be, 

 the red colour of the preserved anchovy is well known, 

 and is produced by dealers by means of artificial pig- 

 ments, if not already naturally present in the salted fish 

 as they come to market. No one would guess on tasting 

 a really fresh bitter anchovy that it could develop the 

 fine flavour which it does when soaked in brine to get 

 rid of its bitterness. 



Another little fish, the Bummaloh, or " Bombay duck " 

 (Harpodon), is taken in large quantities off the West 

 Coast of India, and is dried and used for the peculiar 

 flavour thus developed, which is quite different from that 

 of the anchovy. It is a deep-water fish, and is phosphor- 

 escent. The liking for the flavours developed in these 

 fishes by various bacteria when specially treated, is 



