In ancient times the tuna was a staple food for entire populations of Europe with its Latin name cetus found all over ancient maps of Europe: Cetabriga in Spain, Sète in France, Cetabora in Portugal and Cetara or Salerno of Italy.
Tuna are generally caught in the spring when huge shoals come to inshore waters of the Mediterranean to spawn. The ancient Greeks had a verb for ‘to watch for tuna’ which suggests the importance of this time of year.
Until recent times harvesting enough to feed a whole community for the next 12 months required preserving the meat, a tradition that continues today in many coastal towns of southern Italy: mosciame is the name for strips of tuna meat that have been dried in the sun, bresaola di tonno is the moist, cured filet and tonno affumicato is strips of fish that are smoked over oak chips for 24 hours.
Bottarga is the salted, pressed roe and can come from either tuna or grey mullet. The latter is less bitter in flavour: the most highly prized comes from fish that are found in the brackish waters of Cabras, a lagoon on the west coast of Sardinia.
Tuna are mainly caught in Calabria and Sicily and occasionally the centuries-old ritual mattanza is still employed to catch the fish. The mattanza uses a system of large underwater nets fixed to the sea bed which are left in place during the migration period to channel the fish into the final camera della morte or chamber of death. When the leader of the fishermen or Rais (from the Arabic for commander or head) deems that the time is right, this net is drawn up and the fish caught.
Our range also includes smoked swordfish. These large fish migrate up the east coast of Sicily but, unlike tuna, were never fished in large quantities, being kept for an exclusive local market. Today they are fished throughout the Mediterranean and are widely appreciated for their firm, meaty texture. Smoked over wood from the strawberry tree, or corbezzolo, swordfish makes a great starter served with olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper. An original and delicious alternative to smoked salmon.
Finally, we offer wonderful long filets of smoked Sardinian eel which can be served as above or pan fried with butter and cream and served on pasta. See our recipe section for details.
|
