504 
BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
At several points in the Mississippi Valley the small catfish are smoked whole, 
like lake herring. They are split to the vent and eviscerated, the head and in some 
instances the skin being left on, struck with salt in tight barrels, and smoked for a 
few hours in the manner described for lake herring. The demand is small, the busi- 
ness amounting probably to 10,000 or 15,000 pounds. 
SMOKED EELS. 
Smoking eels is one of the industries introduced into this country by German 
residents, and it is carried on in New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Sandusky, Chicago, 
Milwaukee, Washington, and various minor places. The product will keep only a 
week or two under ordinary conditions in cool weather, and the extent of the business 
ill each locality is generally limited to the local demand. 
Generally the eels are received at the smokehouse fresh, directly from the fish- 
eries, but some are also received frozen from cold storage. In the latter case they are 
thawed by immersing them in water a few hours or by exposure in the open air. 
Some smokers ‘‘slime” the eels with salt; that is, rub the skin Avith a small quantity 
of fine salt to remove the slime therefrom. In dressing, the fish are split from the 
head to the vent and the viscera removed. It is desirable to continue the splitting- 
down to the end of the tail sufficiently deep to remove the large vein along the back- 
bone, but sometimes this may be pidled out without splitting the fish more than an 
inch or two beyond the vent. Few smokers, hoAv^ever, give attention to this item. The 
eels are immersed in strong brine from If to 7^ hours, according to strength of brine, 
size of fish, and the desired flavor. This brine should be quite strong, about 20 pounds 
of Liverpool or other good salt being required for each 100 pounds of fish. 
In New York the eels are usually pickled for 2 hours, while on the Great Lakes 
the length of the time is generally about 7 hours. On removal of the fish they are 
washed, bristle brushes being used by some smokers, while others simply dip the fish 
in water for removing the slime and surplus salt. A few smokers throw them in a 
tub of water and beat them with a net for several minutes to accomplish the same 
imiqAose. The eels are next strung on iron or steel rods one-third inch in diameter, 
the rod passing through the head of each eel, or through the throat cartilage and out 
the mouth, and hung in the open air a few hours for drying. But if the atmosphere be 
moist or the saving of time necessary they may at once be placed in the smokehouse. 
In New York, where small brick ovens are used, the fish are subjected to a mild 
smoke for about 4 or 5 hours until they have acquired the proper color, when the fires 
are gradually increased and they are hot-smoked or cooked for 30 or 40 minutes. At 
Buffalo and some of the other Great Lakes jAorts, the smoking is usually at an even 
temperature throughout and continues for 6 or 8 hours. Mahogany or cedar sawdust 
is used in New York lor making the smoke, while hickory or white-oak wood is used 
for cooking, the latter being preferred. In Washington the eels are suspended in the 
hogshead smokehouses over a fire made of oak and hickory wood and dried for 20 
minutes, when the hogshead is covered with sacking and thus hot-smoked for 3 or 4 
hours, the fires being sprinkled with Avater from time to time to produce a hot vapor. 
The smoking must be carefully attended, for if the heat becomes too great the fish Avill 
curl up out of shape. A good test to determine whether the cooking is sufficient is 
the ease with which the skin may be separated or peeled from the flesh where the eel 
has been split. 
The decrease in weight by dressing and smoking is about 35 per cent, 100 pounds 
of round eels yielding 65 to 75 pounds smoked. In New York the product sells for 
