Page:The Boston cooking-school cook book (1910).djvu/191

 specimens having been caught weighing from three to four hundred pounds. Small, or chicken, halibut is the kind usually found in market, and weighs from fifteen to twenty-five pounds. Halibut are distinctively cold-water fish, being caught in water at from 32° to 45° F. They are found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, where they are nearly identical. The halibut has a compressed body, the skin on one side being white, on the other light, or dark gray, and both eyes are found on the dark side of head. Halibut is in season throughout the year.

Turbot (called little halibut) is a species of the flatfish family, being smaller than halibut, and of more delicate flavor. Turbot are in season from January to March.

Flounder is a small flatfish, which closely resembles the sole which is caught in English waters, and is often served under that name.

Trout are generally fresh-water fish, varying much in size and skin-coloring. Lake trout, which are the largest, reach their greatest perfection in Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, but are found in many lakes. Salmon trout is the name applied to trout caught in New York lakes. Brook trout, caught in brooks and small lakes, are superior eating. Trout are in season from April to August, but a few are found later.

Whitefish is the finest fish found in the Great Lakes.

Smelts are small salt-water fish, and are usually caught in temperate waters at the mouths of rivers. New Brunswick and Maine send large quantities of smelts to market. Selected smelts are the largest in size, and command higher price. The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Law forbids their sale from March 15th to June 1st. Smelts are always sold by the pound.

Bluefish belongs to the Pomatomidæ family. It is widely distributed in temperate waters, taking different names in different localities. In New England and the Middle States it is generally called Bluefish, although in some parts called Snappers, or Snapping Mackerel. In the Southern States it is called Greenfish. It is in season in our markets from May to October; as it is frozen and kept in cold storage from