The Epicure's Almanac or Diary of Good Living
July 24th : IRISH PIKE
Many people consider pike so coarse as not to be worth the trouble of dressing; let those who think so treat the fish as our Irish neighbours do, and they will change their minds.
After it has been carefully cleaned, the belly is filled with the same kind of stuffing you would prepare for roast veal, and this by two or three stitches is prevented from falling out. If you attempt to roast it, the weight of the body is apt to separate it from the head, by which it is hung; to prevent this, send it to the oven, with butter placed in the same manner as directed in “Baked cod's head.” Of course you must regulate the time employed in baking by the weight of your fish.
In Ireland, I have seen pike run to twenty-five, thirty, and even thirty-five pounds weight; and yet these “monsters of the Shannon,” when brought to table, were found to be as delicately flavoured as a common-sized trout.
The late Lord Castlemaine, when Colonel Handcock, sent a pike as a present to the Royal Artillery mess, at Athlone, that absolutely weighed forty-two pounds!