Britain has forgotten how to eat fish
Old recipe books have a deceptive frankness to them, with their terse introductions, blunt instructions and dependence on store-cupboard staples like onion, flour, butter and milk. Even so, the typical modern cook will soon run into trouble. Unless, of course, he or she knows how to tell apart – and take apart – cuts of meat, isn’t afraid of lard, congealed fat or jelly, and can cope with fish in all its forms. It’s the loss of this latter set of skills, filleting in particular, that has coincided with the shrinking of our seafood horizons, recently published research suggests. Dr Ruth Thurstan, an Exeter academic, scrutinised 1,192 fish and shellfish recipes published in Good Housekeeping magazine over the last century.
