236 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART n. ' 



PiSC. Fall to, then ; now, sir, what say you, am I a tolerable 

 cook or no ? 



VIAT. So good a one, that I did never eat so good fish in my 

 life. This fish is infinitely better than any I ever tasted of the 

 kind in my life ; 'tis quite another thing than our trouts about 

 London. 



PiSC. You would say so, if that trout you eat of were in right 

 season : but pray eat of the grayling, which upon my word, at 

 this season is by much the better fish. 



VIAT. In earnest and so it is : and I have one request to 

 make to you, which is, that as you have taught me to catch trout 

 and grayling, you will now teach me how to dress them as these 

 are dressed, which questionless is of all other the best way. 



PiSC. That I will, sir, with all my heart, and am glad you like 

 them so well as to make that request, and they are dressed 

 thus : 



Take your trout, wash, and dry him with a clean napkin ; then 

 open him, and having taken out his guts, and all the blood, wipe 

 him very clean within, but wash him not, and give him three 

 scotches with a knife to the bone, on one side only. After which 

 take a clean kettle, and put in as much hard stale beer (but it 

 must not be' dead), vinegar, and a little white wine and water as 

 will cover the fish you intend to boil ; then throw into the liquor 

 a good quantity of salt, the rind of a lemon, a handful of sliced 

 horse-radish root, with a handsome light faggot of rosemary, 

 thyme, and winter savory. Then set your kettle upon a quick 

 fire of wood ; and let your liquor boil up to the height before 

 you put in your fish ; and then, if there be many, put them in 

 one by one, that they may not so cool the liquor as to make it 

 fall. And whilst your fish is boiling, beat up the batter for your 

 sauce with a ladleful or two of the liquor it is boiling in. And 

 being boiled enough, immediately pour the liquor from the fish; 

 and being laid in a dish, pour your butter upon it ; and strewing 

 it plentifully over with shaved horse-radish, and a little pounded 

 ginger, garnish the sides of your dish, and the fish itself, with a 

 sliced lemon or two, and serve it up. 



A grayling is also to be dressed exactly after the same 



