Book 7
84
There is also a fish called the cuckoo-fish. Epicharmus says— And the beauteous cuckoos Which we split in twain, Then we roast and season them, And then with pleasure eat them. And Dorion says that one ought to roast them, first having split them down the back; and, having seasoned them with herbs, and cheese, and spice, and assafœtida, and oil, then one ought to turn them round, and oil them on the other side, and then to sprinkle them with a little salt; and, when one has taken them from the fire, to moisten them with vinegar. But Numenius gives it the epithet of red, from the facts of the case, saying— Eating sometimes the cuckoo red, sometimes A few pempherides, or else a lizard.
