https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/throw_away_the_fish_eat_the_plank
16 June 1904, Janesville (WI) Daily Gazette, pg. 2, cols. 1-2:
HARPING ON CARP
RECIPE IS GIVEN
Now to Cook the Delicious Denizons of the Deep, and How to Eat Them.
With each recurring day it appears more than ever that we are deliberately throwing away a valuable food product when we discard the large, oily, fat carp that infest the bay and the lake. The whole trouble lies in the fact that not one person in a hundred knows how to properly cook a carp. People have gone at the culinary feat in a haphazard way, hence ‘tis little wonder that the fish has lost caste among epicures. We are too prone to pass judgment hastily on manners and methods that fail to suit our individual ideas, notions and tastes, and ‘tis evident that the much abused carp has not had a fair chance. A new method of cooking and serving carp has been tried with signal success and it is believe that the plan is a feature of the domestic science course at the university, but this, however, can not at present be substantiated.
Briefly, the method is this: Select a moderate-sized carp, dress carefully although this is not as important as some might think, although it is best that it be fairly well done. Remove the head,open the fish and spread it out on a thin flat board a trifle wider than the carp is when he is expanded, the flesh side of the fish to be next to the board. WIth a few small nails fasten the fish to the board, give it a dash of salt and pepper and slip it into a hot oven. Baste it occasionally while it is baking, which will require about two hours, after which the fish may be removed from the oven and prepared for the table. The rest is easy. Pull out the nails, throw away the carp and eat the board.
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