Английская Википедия:Fish knife

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Файл:Four kinds of fish-knife for First Class Lloyd Triestino passengers.jpg
Four kinds of fish knife (two left ones are for serving) and a fish fork for Lloyd Triestino First Class dining (1931)

The fish knife together with fish fork represent a set of utensils specialized for eating fish. Fish knife is a strange-looking, purposedly blunt implement.Шаблон:Sfn

History

Файл:Fischvorlegebesteck.jpg
Fish serving cutlery (end of 19th century)

Fish knives, like most highly specialized utensils, date back to Victorian era. The fish knife was preceded in the 18th century by a silver fish slice (also known as fish trowel, fish carver, and fish knifeШаблон:Sfn),Шаблон:Sfn a broad tool used for serving fish (thus yet another name, fish server), pudding,Шаблон:Sfn and other soft desserts . At the turn of the 19th century, the originally symmetric and broad blade of the serving fish knife evolved into a scimitar-like shape, with the knife often marketed as a matched set with a four-tine serving fork.Шаблон:Sfn

Prior to the modern fish knife introduction in the 19th century, aristocracy ate fish with two dinner forks, one to separate a piece, another one to eat. The other approach used a single fork, with a slice of bread for assistance.Шаблон:Sfn Use of the knife came from the rich commoners, with high society at first frowning upon it as a too specialized tool (and the one they were also missing in their hereditary silverware sets).Шаблон:Sfn

Use of silver as a material for the knife was the only available mean (before the arrival of the stainless steel) to enable pairing of lemon and fish without encountering a metallic taste.Шаблон:Sfn

Construction

Файл:Stainless Chromium Plate fish knife.jpg
Chromium plated fish knife with the distinctive notch

The knife has a distinct shape that evolved from a fish server. The modern knives are about 8 to 9 inches long, have a dull blade and frequently a notch close to the sharp tip that can be used to separate the bones from the flesh of the fish.Шаблон:Sfn

Use

The fish knife is not designed for cutting. Since for fish no force is required for separating the flesh from the bones, the knife is supposed to be held between the thumb and two first fingers (like a pencilШаблон:Sfn) and used to fillet the fish, lift the skeleton, and remove the small remaining bones.Шаблон:Sfn If the fish is served already without bones, knife is used to "flake" the pieces onto the fork, its use can be avoided altogether ("American style").Шаблон:Sfn

Symbol

Fish knives and forks were originally very expensive silverware items, allowing the well-to-do to use them as a class marker, status symbols that are used to indicate the user or owner's elite status.Шаблон:Sfn After the invention of electroplating, knife and fork sets became more affordable by 1860s, but the possession of them still indicated belonging to the "comfortable" middle class.Шаблон:Sfn By the middle of the 20th century the nice fish knife and fork sets became a symbol for upper-class aspirations of a household. John Betjeman starts his poem "How to get on in society" (1958) with a pursuit of fish knives as a symbol of pretensions (Phone for the fish knives ... I must have things daintily served).Шаблон:Sfn

In the 21st century use of the fish knives at a restaurant is also a symbol of high aspirations (perhaps, for a Michelin star).Шаблон:Sfn

References

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Sources