PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
491 
New Hampsliire lias laws somewhat on the same lines as the preceding, but very 
few alewives are smoked in that State. 
SMOKED LAKE HERRING AND WHITEFISH. 
Formerly along the shores of the Great Lakes and in the lish markets using 
supplies therefrom, many white fish were smoked, but the increasing scarcity of that 
species gradually led to tlie substitution of lake herring, and during recent years 
very few whitefish have been prepared in this manner. The trade in smoking lake 
herring is quite extensive, amounting to iirobably 2,000,000 pounds annually, prepared 
principally at Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Sandusky, Cleveland, Buffalo, Cincinnati, 
Erie, New York, Baltimore, and Washington. 
The process of smoking lake herring and whitefish is identical. If the fish are 
frozen when received at the smokehouse, they are thawed in the open air or, better, 
by immersing and stirring them in a barrel of water of medium temperature. After 
thawing they are split down the belly to the vent, eviscerated, washed thoroughly, 
and ])ickled in butts or barrels, about 4 pounds of line salt to 100 pounds of lish being- 
scattered among them and sufficient brine of 90° salinity to cover them. Either dry 
salt or brine alone may be used, the former being preferred iu warm weather and the 
latter during the winter. In case brine alone is used, some dry salt should be placed 
on top to streugtheu the weak pickle floating at the surface. After remaining iu the 
pickle from 10 to 16 hours, according to the strength of the pickle and the flavor 
desired, the fish are removed and strung on the smoke rods, 10 to 20 fish to each rod, 
according to its length and the size of the fish. 
In stringing, some curers pass the rod through the body immediately below the 
nape bone, effectively preventing the fish from falling down in smoking, but also 
marring its appearance somewhat. A more usual way is to pass the stick iu at the 
right gill-opeuiug and out at the mouth. Others pass the rod through the head uear 
or through the eyes, and a few pass it immediately back of the throat cartilage. The 
latter leaves a neat appearance, yet it ])ermits more fish to fall in the smoking process 
than when the rod is passed through the head or the shoulders. In some houses the 
smoke-stick is not iiassed through the fish, but instead a stiff' iron wire, curved in S 
shape, is used to attach the fish to the stick, one end of the wire passing through the 
fish at the head or beneath the nape bone and the other hung over the smoke stick. 
At Grand Haven, and, to some extent iu Chicago, Milwaukee, and one or two other 
places, the fish are secured by having stout smoke-sticks, about I 4 inches thick and 
2^ inches wide; in the top of each, and about three-fourths of an iuch from the edge, 
is driven a row of tacks or small wire nails at intervals of about 3 inches, projecting 
about oue-half inch above the surface. Ordinary cotton wrapping cord is tied to the 
wire nail at the end of each stick, and by means of this cord passing around each nail 
a single herring is held in place between each two nails throughout the length of the 
stick, the fish being placed with the back of the ueck against the stick and the cord 
passing from one nail around the throat of the fish, entering under the gills on each 
side, and then around the uext nail, and so on to the end. By having the stick of 
sufficient width, a row of small nails may be placed on each edge, so as to attach a 
row of fish at each side. This removes nearly all risk of the fish falling, and their 
appearance is not marred by holes through which the smoke-stick has been passed. 
