vinegar.
_Mode_.--Scale and clean the pike, and fasten the tail in its mouth by
means of a skewer. Lay it in cold water, and when it boils, throw in the
salt and vinegar. The time for boiling depends, of course, on the size
of the fish; but a middling-sized pike will take about 1/2 an hour.
Serve with Dutch or anchovy sauce, and plain melted butter.
_Time_.--According to size, 1/2 to 1 hour.--_Average cost_. Seldom
bought.
_Seasonable_ from September to March.
[Illustration: THE PIKE.]
THE PIKE.--This fish is, on account of its voracity, termed the
freshwater shark, and is abundant in most of the European lakes,
especially those of the northern parts. It grows to an immense
size, some attaining to the measure of eight feet, in Lapland
and Russia. The smaller lakes, of this country and Ireland, vary
in the kinds of fish they produce; some affording trout, others
pike; and so on. Where these happen to be together, however, the
trout soon becomes extinct. "Within a short distance of
Castlebar," says a writer on sports, "there is a small bog-lake
called Derreens. Ten years ago it was celebrated for its
numerous well-sized trouts. Accidentally pike effected a passage
into the lake from the Minola river, and now the trouts are
extinct, or, at least, none of them are caught or seen. Previous
to the intrusion of the pikes, half a dozen trouts would be
killed in an evening in Derreens, whose collective weight often
amounted to twenty pounds." As an eating fish, the pike is in
general dry.
BAKED PIKE.