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First, it is simply boiled, in which case it is served with 

 a liberal supply of some butter sauce, often associated with 

 a minor fish product for the sake of flavour. 



Secondly, the fish is fried either whole or in portions, 

 and is eaten with or without butter sauce, or with the 

 juice of a lemon, or that of the mushroom, or with some 

 composite ready made sauce. 



Thirdly, it is broiled, and is served pretty much as in the 

 preceding mode ; but occasionally, and this relates to a few 

 exceptional varieties, it is baked, and some form of seasoned 

 forcemeat is served with it. 



By all these methods, but particularly by boiling, some 

 waste of nutritive material occurs. Relative to this I 

 have made numerous experiments, and I find that the 

 loss in weight by boiling varies with different fish, and also 

 with the mode of operating. It is rarely as low as five 

 per cent, it is generally much more, and I have known it 

 to reach thirty per cent, the water always containing 

 more or less solid animal matter. In order to avoid waste 

 as much as possible, the fish should be placed in a 

 relatively large quantity of water, which should be boiling. 

 The liquor in which the fish has thus been cooked, I 

 have evaporated, and have obtained from it, in solid 

 deposit, no less than four per cent of the original weight 

 of the fish ; a very startling quantity. There is no doubt 

 then that steaming is a more economical process than 

 boiling, which in my opinion ought to be discarded 

 altogether. 



But I now desire to call your attention to another 

 mode of cooking fish, which ought to be general, since it 

 is applicable to all varieties, and has the advantage of 

 retaining all the nutritive material, while the juices and 

 the characteristic flavour of the fish are preserved in a 



