Fish: Saltwater Flat Fish

Until the mid-twentieth century, the size, texture, bone structure, and oiliness of a fish determined its use in the American kitchen, a practice predicated on how various North American settlers used the fish or shellfish in their native countries. Wherever settlers landed, they viewed any unfamiliar fish and shellfish with an eye toward what familiar seafood it resembled. They then would cook it in a comparable manner, merely adopting the new fish and adapting its preparation to what they already knew. The view of fish and shellfish from the kitchen broke into several categories of use that did not change much from the earliest settlement through the middle of the twentieth century.