Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 236, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1910 — Didn’t Cook ’Em Right. [ARTICLE]

Didn’t Cook ’Em Right.

"Of all the tasteless, mussy, mudsoaked, greasy fish in the world, the German carp is the worst!” ejaculated one of the piscatorial enthusiasts seated about a tavern fire. “they are all right if cooked right,” disputed another follower of Izaak. “Cooked right! Great leaping tarpons! I’ve et ’em fried in the choicest Jersey butter, broiled with the best country bacon, baked With mountain sage dressing, and toasted on a spruce fork over a camp fire, and I tell you I never bit into a carp when it tasted like anything fit to eat” “Now, the only way to cook a carp,” continued the man with the recipe, “is to clean a nice five-pounder carefully, slash it several times crosswise, and Insert bits of salt pork. Season the whole with melted butter, sprinkle it with pepper and salt, and stuff with onion dressing. Then cut a hemlock board two feet long, two inches thick, and ten inches wide. Lay the fish on this and insert in a red hot oven. Let the fish bake for 30 minutes; then take it out and turn it over. Baste with butter and return to the oven. After 20 minutes take it out carefully, throw the fish away and eat the board.”