This month's Seasonal Update includes recipes and information on langoustine, megrim, whelks and ling.
Brought to you by Seafood Scotland, the national trade body for the Scottish seafood industry. For further help on fishing methods, sustainability or advice on sourcing Scottish seafood for your restaurant, get in touch [email protected], 0131 557 9344.
Look out for long-bodied ling and the flatfish megrim this month, both of which are interesting alternatives to other white fish and can often be a cheaper choice to vary your menu while increasing margins. We’re also into the langoustine season, a star of the Scottish offering!
It seems that chefs like to call them langoustine, while fishermen prefer the old-fashioned prawn. What’s not up for debate, though, is the fact that Scotland produces the lion’s share of this sweet, succulent, bright orange shellfish – half of all langoustine eaten throughout the world. They thrive in the cold inland North Atlantic and North seas, feeding on small creatures from the seabed, and are never farmed here. They mustn’t be confused with warm water prawns, which are farmed and imported from Thailand and Asia.
Given their unique provenance and flavour, it seems a shame that the biggest market for Scottish langoustine is not Scotland or the UK, but France and Spain. According to Jamie McMillan of Loch Fyne Langoustines based in Tarbet, Argyll, that’s because most people don’t know how to cook or eat them. “A lack of education about langoustines has led to a very small domestic market for them,” he says. “Most people see a langoustine and run away.”
Though they are abundant in both the East and West Coast inland waters, the deep red colour of those grown at Loch Fyne makes them highly prized by French chefs, says Jamie. East coast langoustine are trawled and preferred elsewhere on the continent, while west coast ones tend to be creel-caught by day boats, going to market super-fresh at just a day old.
They were once part of the British seaside holiday. Many consumers today remember foraging for whelks as children, taking them home, boiling and having fun prising them out of their shells with a pin. They used to be sold on street corners wrapped in paper and doused in vinegar.
Given their on-trend credentials – they’re local, have a tiny carbon footprint, and are sustainable as well as being good for you – the humble whelk could make a return to British restaurant menus, and even make an appearance in the current street food revolution. Their sweet flavour and meaty flesh is versatile, though if cooked too long it can become chewy.
At the moment, whelks are not very popular in the UK, says John Stott of Macduff, Europe’s largest shellfish producer based in Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire. “By contrast, they’re hugely popular with Korean and Japanese chefs for grating onto sushi and sashimi, and with some Italian chefs for pasta and salads,” he told the Staff Canteen. Time, surely, for Scottish chefs to welcome back the whelk!
Flaking out over fake news?
It can be easy for chefs to find themselves confused over which seafood to serve, unsure of which species are sustainably managed and which to avoid. A plethora of websites, associations, labels and logos with different messages and guidelines create a bewildering sea to navigate.
Media often reports varied accounts. Recently Scottish haddock was in the lime light again, having been removed from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS)’s recommended “green” list of fish to eat in its Good Fish Guide.
This caused dismay in the Scottish fishing community, where management of this most precious resource is of the highest priority, and provoked a very different response. Mike Park of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association said: “We were incensed by the implication that we were somehow acting in an irresponsible fashion by catching too much haddock. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
So who to believe? Which schemes, accreditations and labels are the ones to respect, live by or perhaps avoid?
So is there a simple way to get it right? Not necessarily.
When we talk about seafood, there are hundreds of species, all grown, harvested, fished in very different way and means. It’s not something that can be lumped together under one simple rule book; it would be the same as saying cattle and sheep are the same animal.
Some fisheries will never be large enough to gain some of the various certifications available, as they’re often too expensive to achieve. It doesn’t mean they are unsustainable; to believe so would mean rejecting a wonderful selection of seafood readily available from our shores.
Scotland’s seafood sector takes individual efforts to manage all fisheries, whether through a third party or not. It has become one of the most highly regulated industries in Europe. Whether it be minimum landing sizes of species caught, catch limits, discard bans, net and gear restrictions and regional conservation such as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), much is already going on behind the scenes without labels and logos.
The best approach to take is an individual one!
Speak with your suppliers, get as close as you can to the information. Ask who and where the fish was caught. A growing number of fishermen are on social media, so why not talk to the industry and find out useful information that your customers might want to hear?
And of course, speak to Seafood Scotland for direct advice. Find out more in our handy sustainability guide or take a closer look at Seafish Responsible and Sustainable sourcing here.
Scotland produces some of the world’s finest seafood from the cool clean waters of its deep lochs and surrounding seas.
CLICK HERE If you would like a copy of the Seafood Seasonal Guide for your kitchen or help on fishing methods, sustainability or advice on sourcing Scottish seafood for your restaurant, get in touch: [email protected], 0131 557 9344.
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