PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
503 
pieces are soused in fresh water immediately on removal from the idckle. In case the 
fish have been salted only 15 or 20 minutes, they are not dipped or rinsed. After drain- 
ing for a few moments, or, better still, drying in the open air for several hours, they are 
suspended in the lower part of the smokehouse from 4 to 6 feet above tlie fire, where 
they are exposed to a gentle smoke with doors open anywhere from 1 to 5 hours, 
according to the weather and the flavor of the product desired. When the weather is 
sultry it requires twice as long as when it is clear. Then the doors or dami)ers are 
closed and a hot hickory, maple, or oak fire is built and the fish cooked from 1 to 2 
hours, care being taken that it does not become too hot and melt or fall from the rods. 
On completion of the cooking process the meat is allowed to cool, either by opening the 
doors of the smokehouse or by removal to the open air, when it is ready for the trade. 
While the foregoing are the methods in general use, yet many smokers have special 
processes of their own. One of the most successful smokers on the Great Lakes operates 
as follows : The small pieces of flesh, to 2 pounds in weight, are first rubbed with 
No. 2 packers’ salt and put in tight barrels with salt sprinkled among them, about 
20 i^ounds of salt in all being used to each 100 pounds of fish. In about 7 or 8 hours, 
when the fish are saturated with the salt, they are removed, rinsed in two waters, 
strung on wire hooks, and suspended from the smoke-sticks. After draining for an 
hour they are placed in the smokehouse in 2 or 3 rows, 5 to 7 feet above the floor, and 
subjected to a hard wood smoke for 7 or 8 hours at an even temperature. 
Gne hundred pounds of dressed sturgeon yields from 03 to 70 pounds smoked, 
and the product usually keeps one or two weeks under ordinary conditions. 
Notwithstanding the great scarcity of sturgeon and its consequent high price, 
the consumption of smoked sturgeon amounts to about 4,000,000 pounds annually. 
It is not practicable to hold smoked sturgeon in cold storage, because of its 
tendency to mold, but it is canned to a small extent. 
SMOKED CATFISH. 
The increasing scarcity of sturgeon with the consequent high price has resulted 
in the smoking of channel catfish: as a substitute. These are obtained chiefly from 
the Mississippi Eiver, especially in the vicinity of Memphis, and they are smoked in 
Chicago, St. Louis, and the Middle Mississippi Valley. This industry is of very recent 
development, but as it furnishes a satisfactory substitute for sturgeon, which are 
becoming so costly, it will probably grow to considerable jiroportions. 
Being intended as a substitute, the catfish are smoked in identically the same 
manner as are sturgeon. The fish as received at the smokehouse are usually beheaded 
and eviscerated. They are skinned and cut into small pieces, weighing about 1 or 
pounds each, and are pickled for G or 8 hours in tight barrels. This may be accom- 
plished by rubbing the pieces with salt and placing them in the barrel either with dry 
salt scattered among them, or simxily by placing them in the barrel with dry salt or 
with strong brine. On removal from the brine the pieces are rinsed by dipping in 
fresh water, to remove slime, surplus salt, etc. ; they are then attached to the smoke- 
sticks and drained for an hour or so, and placed in the smol^ehouse, where they are 
smoked for 7 or 8 hours in the same manner as sturgeon are treated. 100 pounds of 
dressed catfish yield from 65 to 70 pounds smoked, and the product sells usually at 
about 15 or 16 cents per pound. The total annual product of smoked catfish in the 
United States probably does not exceed 50,000 pounds, and its sale is confined prin- 
cipally to those who are willing to accept a substitute because of its being cheaper. 
