250 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



time lie is highly esteemed at Florence, Naples, and in Italy 

 generally ; and in Holland it is said that he is considered a 

 first-rate delicacy, and equal to turtle. I shall not quarrel 

 "with the Italians or Dutchmen as to their tastes ; but I 

 must say I am surprised at Dr. Badham seriously giving a 

 recipe for cooking tench containing as many concomitant 

 ingredients as there are patterns in a patchwork counter- 

 pane. Another modern writer says, " The flesh of this fish 

 is rich, luscious, and delicate," but he adds a saving clause, 

 " although somewhat muddy in flavour,'" which seems to 

 me very seriously to detract from his encomium. And 

 yet another commends tench first partly fried and then 

 stewed with onions and dripping, supplemented with 

 various condiments, the body of the fish being stuffed 

 with a piece of bread " sufficiently large to fill up the 

 whole cavity, and to remove any muddy or disagreeable 

 flavour." It is the old story. Fishermen like to utilize 

 their fish, and are glad of any excuse for so doing. A 

 Parliamentary Blue-book would be a good dish enough 

 with a good sauce of various ingredients, flavoured princi- 

 pally with port or sherry, providing you only consumed 

 the sauce. I should like to see the man who could eat a 

 bit of broiled or boiled tench as he would eat a bit of sole, 

 salmon, or whiting, simply with pepper and salt, and really 

 like it. He would be as veritable a gastronomic pheno- 

 menon as that peculiar people who eat dirt and enjoy it. 



Connected with the subject of tench as food, I may 

 here jot down a few memoranda as to the medicinal value 

 credited to the fish, as given by Dr. Badham. A tench 

 applied alive to the temple was said to cure nervous head- 

 aches, and laid over the liver in jaundice to draw all the 

 saffron hue out of the patient, and expire of jaundice itself. 



