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Skate, Choosing Of

Skate varies in quality more than most fish. The best is broad and thick, prickly on the back, with the dark side brown and healthy-looking, and the under-side of a delicate creamy whiteness. Large fish are firmer and altogether more profitable than small fish, having more flesh in proportion to the quantity of gristle. The upper skin should be removed, and it should be stripped off from the middle outwards. If skate has a strange smell, unlike the ordinary smell of fish, it should be discarded as dangerous. "Skate," says Dr. Kitchener, "is a very good fish when it is in good season, but no fish so bad when it is otherwise. Those persons who like it firm and dry should have it crimped, but those who like it tender should have it plain, and ate not earlier than the second day; and, if cold weather, three or four days old it is better; it cannot be kept too long if perfectly sweet. Skate, if young, eats very fine crimped and fried."