Split open the fish. Take out the backbone carefully, so as to pull out the "ribs" with it. Grill over a clear fire. (See No. 5.) When cooked, place a piece of butter on each bloater, and move it about to moisten it. The heat of the bloater will, of course, melt the butter.

Bloaters can also be cooked in front of the fire in a shut-up gridiron, or in a frying-pan - in which case the frying-pan must be greased. Bloaters should always be opened before they are cooked, in order to avoid the offensive smell caused by opening them afterwards; many people also remove the heads, which are very unsightly. It is always advisable when cooking bloaters to shut the kitchen door first, and open the window at the top. They make the whole house smell.

The greatest care should be taken in cleaning the frying-pan or gridiron that has cooked bloaters. It is almost impossible to get perfectly rid of the flavour. If you have to cook a steak on a gridiron that has cooked a bloater, make it very hot first; then wipe it, and rub it with an onion.