Whitebait
Our ignorance of whitebait is odd. The controversies that have arisen as to whence the whitebait comes are as interminable, curious and furious, as those concerning whither the lost Ten Tribes have gone. Nobody seems to know. It is said that the Scotch, with their banking propensities, their love of the Sabbath, and their aversion to pigs and eels, are the lost Ten Tribes; and on much the same evidence it is proved that whitebait are the fry of the common herring. It was for a long time supposed that whitebait, which come up the Thames as far as Blackwall, are the young of that fresh-water herring-the shad, which also comes thus far up the river. They were then proved to be quite distinct from the fry of the shad. It was next insisted that they were a distinct species of herring. It was afterwards pointed out that whitebait have never been found with roe; and therefore they must be young. It is now declared that they are the infant progeny of the common herring, with all the manners of the parent fish save this that they travel up the Thames to haunts which their ancestors, if they were ever there, no longer seem to approve of.
To dress the whitebait:-1. First of all, strew some flour upon a cloth. I observe that some of the receipts speak of egg. Have nothing to do therewith. Flour is enough.
Whitebait 2. Take the whitebait out of the water with your hands, and drain them through your fingers. Some of the receipts warn you not to handle them. This is nonsense. The object of the warning is to prevent the hands from warming the fish; but they need not be held long enough in the hand to do so. 3. When they are drained throw them on the flour in the cloth. 4. Let them roll in the flour, by shaking the corners of the cloth successively. They will not stick together if they are fresh. 5. Pass them on to a large wooden sieve, to get rid of superfluous flour. 6. Put them into a wire frying-basket. 7. Dip the basket into a frying-kettle of very hot beeffat. This point is important. Many of the receipts say lard-which is a mistake. Nothing so good as ox-kidney fat. 8. There let them rest for three minutes upon the fire motionless. At the end of that time give them a light shake, though without taking them out of the fat. In half a minute more perhaps another shake. 9. Four minutes-at most five-of the hot fat ought be enough for them, for they must not be allowed to to brown. 10. Take them out of the frying-kettle, and while they are still in the basket sprinkle salt over them. Give them a shake and then another sprinkle. 11. They are now ready for table, they ought to be slightly crisp, and they are to be served with brown bread and butter and quarters of lemon.
To devil whitebait. - The proper process is at No. 10, to sprinkle it either with red or black pepper-whichever is preferred-along with the salt. But it is one of the tricks of the trade to take whitebait which has been already Whiting cooked; to sprinkle it with pepper, then to dip it a second time in the frying-kettle, and lastly to put a fresh sprinkling of pepper upon it.