I wonder what fish this was:
"The Jew-fish is a very good Fish, and I judge so called by
the English, because it hath Scales and Fins, and therefore a clean Fish,
according to the Levitical Law, and the Jews at Jamaica buy them, and eat them
very freely. It is a very large Fish,
shaped much like a Cod, but a great deal bigger; one will weigh three, or four,
or five Hundred Weight. It hath a large Head, with great Fins and Scales, as
big as an Half-Crown, answerable to the bigness of his Body, It is very sweet
Meat, and commonly fat. This Fish lives among the Rocks; there are plenty of
them in the West-Indies, about Jamaica, and the Coast of Caraccos; but chiefly
in these Seas, especially more Westward."
William Dampier. A
Collection Of Voyages: In Four Volumes. 1729
Sounds like a grouper:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epinephelus_itajara
Very common in the Med as well, where it's used for Tuesday's fish couscous in Tunisia (by Jews and Muslims alike). Delicious.