Then each is cut open lengthwise, with a sharp knife,
and by a thin skewer of wood its interior surface is exposed. Placed
on wire-netting trays in series the fish are smoked or desiccated
in a furnace heated, preferably, with black or red mangrove wood,
and finally exposed to the sun to eliminate dampness which may have
been absorbed on removal from the smoke-house. When the fish leave
the smoke-house they have shrunk to small dimensions, and resemble
pieces of smoked buffalo hide, more or less curled and crumpled.
In this condition they are sent away to China and elsewhere to be
used in soup. Australian gourmands are beginning to appreciate this
delicacy, which is said to be marvellously strengthening, though
without elaborate cooking it is almost tasteless, and therefore
unlike dugong soup, which surpasses turtle in flavour and delicacy,
and would fatten up a skeleton. Beche-de-mer is merely a substantial
foundation or stock for a more or less artistic culinary effort.
Beche-de-mer realises as much as 160 pounds per ton. In former days
"red prickly fish," was the most highly-prized on the Chinese markets,
but several years ago a fisherman in the neighbourhood of Cooktown used
a copper boiler.
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