PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
497 
The inventor’s description of the process is as follows : 
Alter the fish, is caught I ojieii and clean it. I then place it in clean lime water, in which I let it 
remain for about 20 minutes. After removing it from the lime water I wash it clean and place it 
on the table, lle.sh side up, where I let it lie for about 10 minutes, when I wipe it dry, both inside and 
outside, with a clean dry cloth. For an ordinary salmon, weighing 16 pounds, I take 1 teaspoonful 
of finely ground black pepper and rub it well into the flesh .side of the fish ; next I rub in one-fourth 
of a teaspoonful of pulverized saltpeter in the same way, and then 1 tablespoonful of fine salt. 
These substances I rub iu separately, rubbing each one until it disappears. The fish having been thus 
j)repared, I sprinkle a thin layer of brown sugar over it and fold the two sides together. T let it lie in 
this condition for 12 hours, when I wipe the back of the fish dry and apply a coating of linseed 
oil to the back with a paint brush, when it is ready to be smoked. In smoking the fish I commence by 
creating a heavy smoke, and allow it to gradually subside iu quantity until the proper volume is 
obtained, iu order to keep off the flies. 
SMOKED HALIBUT. 
The preserviug of halibut is effected iiriucipally by salting, but iu that condition 
these fish are not readily marketed and smoking is applied to improve the flavor. 
The industry is coufined almost exclusively to Gloucester, Mass., but during the past 
few years small quantities liave been smoked at Boston and other points. Originally 
the smokers utilized only the suriilus halibut from the fresh-fish trade, but the popu- 
larity of the article increasing, the Bank vessels began, about 1850, to salt the halibut 
taken by them when it was inconvenient to take them to market fresh. In 1855 the 
quantity of smoked halibut prepared approximated 400,000 pounds. The business 
reached its maximum in 1872, when about 3,000,000 pounds were prepared. Since 
that time the increasing scarcity of the fish and the enhanced demand for it iu the 
fresh-fish trade have diminished the quantity. In 1880 it amounted to about 2,000,000 
pounds, while iu recent years it has averaged about 1,600,000 pounds, selling at about 
10 cents per pound wholesale. 
Although most of the halibut for smoking is received iu a salted condition from 
Grand Bank, Western Bank, Iceland, Greenland, and more recently from Bacalieu 
Bank, some are received from the vessels supplying the fresh-fish market, when the 
market is glutted. That was the exclusive source of the supply prior to 1860, when 
the halibut fishery on Grand Bank and Western Bank was begun. Since the origin of 
the Bacalieu Bank fishery, in 1895, the smokers have received quantities of surplus 
gray halibut too large for the fresh-fish market. 
Many of these fresh halibut are known among the trade as “ seconds ” or “ sour hali- 
but,” the coating or membrane of the abdominal cavity becoming slightly tainted, and 
since the taint will quickly spread to the entire fish it is necessary that they be salted 
at once. When the flesh sours it puffs out, and is good for nothing except fertilizer. 
The i>rocess of dressing and salting halibut is as follows: A dressing or fletching 
gang consists of two men, and there are four gangs to the vessel. Each being provided 
with a strong gaff hook having a garden-spade handle, they place the halibut on a slant- 
ing cutting board on its dark side. One of the fletchers thrusts a thin knife, about 
16 inches long and 1^ inches wide, into the body of the fish near the base of the dorsal 
fin through to the backbone, the blade being held horizontally, and cuts close to the 
ribs, removing a broad streak from one-half of the upper side of the fish. The fletcher on 
the opposite side of the table makes a cut similar to the above, separating the whole 
upper half of the fish from the backbone and the ribs. Two gashes are then cut in 
* Letters Patent No. 204647, dated June 4, 1878. 
r.C.B., 1898-32 
