Classes of Fish

According to the quantity of fat it contains, fish may be divided into two classes, Dry, or lean fish, and Oily fish. Cod, haddock, smelt, flounder, perch, bass, brook trout, and pike are dry, or lean fish. Salmon, shad, mackerel, herring, eel, halibut, lake trout, and white fish are oily fish. This latter group contains from 5 to 10 per cent of fat.

Fish may also be divided into two classes, according to the water in which they live, fish from the sea being termed 'salt-water fish', and those from rivers and lakes are 'fresh-water fish'.


FOOD VALUE OF FISH

The total food value of fish, as has been shown, is high or low, varying with the food substances it contains. Therefore, since weight for weight, the food value of fat is much higher than that of protein, it follows that the fish containing the most fat has the highest food value.

     Fat and protein, as is well known, do not serve the same function in the body, but each has its purpose and is valuable and necessary in the diet. So far as the quantity of protein is concerned, fish are valuable in their tissue-forming and tissue-building qualities. Nutritive value of fish may be lost in its preparation, if proper methods are not applied.

     To obtain as much food value from fish as possible, the various points that are involved in its cookery must be thoroughly understood. When the value of fish as a food is to be determined, its digestibility must receive definite consideration. Much depends on the way it is cooked.

     The ease with which fish is digested is influenced largely by the quantity of fat it contains. In addition to the correct cooking of fish and the presence of fat, a factor that largely influences the digestibility of this food is the length of the fibers of the flesh. It will be remembered that the parts of an animal having long fibers are tougher and less easily digested than those having short fibers.

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