Fish, How to Choose and How to Dress

"The object of writing the present work is to bring every kind of fish that is to be found in our waters and adapted for the food of man before the notice of the public. This, we must confess, is a task we could wish had been undertaken by abler hands, embracing, as it does, a subject that has been but partially treated on by the numerous, as well as talented writers who have from time to time favored us with their useful commentaries on the art of cookery. - As proof of the limited extent to which this important subject has been restricted, we find even in the most celebrated cookery books, that our of the upwards of one hundred and seventy distinct species of good and wholesome fishes with which our markets are supplied, scarcely one fourth part are mentioned even by name: a very multitude of fishes, all excellent in their way at their proper times and seasons are altogether omitted, while several that are highly esteemed, and so common as to be easily attainable - all capable of being cooked in a variety of ways, each furnishing a dish the most fastidious epicure could not forbear to praise - are merely glossed over as unworthy of further notice."