PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
495 
when they are usually sufficiently thawed for handling. The fish are then split down 
the belly froni head to tail, so as to lie out fiat, the viscera removed, and in some cases 
the head and four-fifths of the backbone. This is customary with the Pacific coast 
salmon, but in New York and Boston, where Nova Scotia salmon are used principally, 
the head and backbone generally remain. In some instances the fish are split down 
the back, depending on the state of their iireservation. 
If the fish must be handled with little expense, so as to sell at a low price, they 
are next placed in tight barrels or butts with about 50 pounds of No. 2 salt and from 
5 to 10 pounds of granulated sugar to 200 pounds of fish. On the second day add 
brine made by dissolving 30 pounds of salt in 5 gallons of water. After the fifth or 
sixth day the fish are removed and soaked in fresh water for about 3 hours, and are 
then attached by five or six hooks to the smoke-sticks, dried, and smoked in the 
manner described for salted salmon. The product by this method sells for 20 to 30 
cents per pound wholesale, but sometimes much lower. In Chicago in 1898 the writer 
saw salmon which had been held in cold storage for three years and then smoked after 
the above method and sold at 16 cents per pound, resulting, of course, in no profit 
because of the heavy cold-storage charges. 
Usually much more care is exercised in preparing smoked salmon from fresh or 
frozen fish, and especially when using Nova Scotia fish. Immediately after thavdng, 
or after removal from the ice, if fresh, the fish should be sponged dry and a mixture 
of equal parts of saltpeter and salt introduced into the thick portion of the flesh. 
This may be accomplished by making 3 or 4 cuts about 8 inches apart through the 
skin, but not so far as to penetrate the stomach membrane, after which the openings 
are closed as well as practicable by bringing the cuts together; or it may be intro- 
duced by means of a small hollow tube with a i^lunger to force it in as the tube is 
withdrawn. The fish are next split and eviscerated and carefully rubbed by hand with 
a composition of salt and saltpeter, 2 parts of the former to 1 part of the latter. 
This mixture is thoroughly spread over each fish, and at the same time wherever the 
surface is cut or broken the fibers are brought together, so that the fish presents a 
smooth, neat appearance. A curer on the Pacific coast runs a small instrument down 
the thick part of the flesh on each side of the backbone and thus removes about one- 
fourth inch of skin on each side the full length of the back, so that the saltpeter and 
salt may quickly permeate the flesh. The fish are next placed in hogshead butts, skin 
down and 3 or 4 fish to the layer, with one-half inch of salt in the bottom and sprinkled 
over each layer of fish. Pickle of about 90° test is then added to cover the fish, 
and after remaining in pickle about 2 days they are removed and prepared for 
hanging up, by placing a wooden i^in through the head and 2 or 3 flat sticks at the 
back to stretch the fish out in the manner already described. After passing a rope- 
yarn about the sticks the fish are suspended in running water for 30 or 40 minutes 
and then hung in the open air about 0 hours to drain and be partly dried by the wind, 
when they are suspended in the upiier part of the smokehouse, away from the heat, and 
subjected to a gentle smoking for about 24 hours under normal conditions. Salmon 
cured in this manner are known usually as Nova Scotia salmon, in contradistinction 
to the salted salmon from the north, generally known as Halifax salmon. 100 pounds 
of round fish make about 65 or 70 pounds smoked, Avhich sell for 30 to 45 cents per 
pound wholesale and 60 to 75 cents per pound retail. 
With a view to preventing the inner surface of salmon and similar fish from crack- 
ing, which injures its appearance and also makes it liable to mildew quickly, and to 
