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main a longer period before being laid in salt than forty-
eight hours.
Some Curers think, that instead of laying the fish in
salt immediately after they are washed, they ought to be
left to soak in water for twelve hours, or allowed to re¬
main in a heap for the same period, before being salted.
This has been done by many, under the impression that
it will make the fish, when cured in pickle, appear thick
and plump at market, and because the coating of slime
found on the skin, when the fish come to be repacked or
dried, thus becomes thicker and easier removed, than if
the fish were salted from the washer’s hand. But the
fact is, that the swelling of the fish, and the thich coat¬
ing of slime, indicate tainting, and it is therefore obvious
that when fish remain without salt for twelve hours, the
pickle will just so much the sooner become sour, so
that the fish must be thereby injured. Herrings, though
a richer fish than cod, are never soaked in water before
salting, or allowed to remain for hours without salt after
being gutted ; thereverse is the universal practice. In the
same manner, therefore, the sooner that Cod, Ling, Tusk,
or Hake, can be salted after being thoroughly washed, the
better will the cure and the quality be, and the less salt
will be required. The salting should always be carried
on in vats, tubs, or troughs, which should have covers.
But whether the fish are to be so cured, or by that very
inferior mode called bulk, they must be regularly laid in
layers on their backs, one over the other, each layer be¬
ing carefully spread over with a sufficient quantity of salt,
45 or 50 pounds of Liverpool salt per hundred weight of
dried fish being about sufficient. Where this quantity can¬
not be given, a day or two longer in salt may be required ;
and if salted in bulk, they will certainly require to remain
a few days longer. Over-salting is frequently practised

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