QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 81 



those who had the good fortune of tasting them ; and it 

 was even considered that the dead would have returned 

 to life again if it had been possible for them to have 

 tasted a morsel of this delicious fish. Macrobius. 



Eude, who was French cook to Louis XVI, in a Cookery 

 Eook he has published, gives the following inhuman 

 process for cooking a dish of eels. 



" Take (says he) one or two live eels, throw them into 

 the fire ; as they are twisting about on all sides, lay hold 

 of them with a towel in your hand, and skin them from 

 head to tail. This method is decidedly the best, as it is 

 the means of drawing out all the oil, which is unpalatable. 

 Note. Several gentleman have accused me of cruelty 

 [astonishing !] for recommending in my work that eels 

 should be burnt alive. As my knowledge in cookery is 

 entirely devoted to the gratification of their taste, and 

 preservation of their health, I consider it my duty to 

 attend to what is essential to both. The blue skin and 

 the oil which remain when they are skinned are highly 

 indigestible. If any lady or gentleman should make 

 the trial of both, they will find that the burnt ones are 

 much healthier ; but it is after all left to their choice 

 whether to burn or skin." 



Fat salmon was a very favourite dish in the middle ages. 

 It was divided into joles, &c., as now, broiled, salted, 

 pickled, and served in various forms ; a sort of pickled 

 salmon, called Ysitius, was eaten by our Anglo-Saxon 

 ancestors. 



