Flying Fish Seafoods is proud to supply high quality fish to distinctive restaurants and hotels throughout the South and West of England. Our pledge is simple. We source the finest and freshest fish directly from Cornwall's best fishermen and deliver it straight to your door.
Cornish Line Caught Mackerel
The humble Cornish mackerel is small and oily, but packed full of flavour. These fish are plentiful this time of year with the larger sized fish coming in toward the end of June beginning of July. We source the very best hand line mackerel from the crews that work out from Looe using age old traditional methods "˜the rod and line'. This means that the quality and freshness is second-to-none.
These beautifully patterned fish are so versatile they are at home on almost any menu whether it be fine dining or a brasserie.
A tip on buying mackerel
The giveaway indicator for mackerel is their bellies. When these fish are not as fresh as they once were the belly tends to go quite soft although their eyes and gills will still look bright and fresh. This will also happen if they haven't been stored in cool conditions once caught.
The bones in these fish can be quite a concern for the end customer so it is best to take caution when filleting them. "˜V-cutting' the bones ensures that there are no bones left in the fish, this basically means that the bones are cut out of the fillets which any good fishmonger should be able to do for you.
Here is a small video of this being done
v-cut mackerel
Cornish Sardines
Cornish Sardines are part of the main family of pelagic fish known as clupidae. Sardines or pilchards are not herrings or sprats; they are an individual sub species of their own. The fish are metallic green or olive coloured along the back with golden flanks and pearlescent silver shading to silvery-white on the belly. There are a series of dark spots long the upper flanks, sometimes with a second or third series below.
Pelagic fish are fish that spend most of their life swimming in the water as opposed to resting on the bottom. They include tuna, mackerel, herrings, sprats, pilchards and sardines.
Sardines can be found from the Mediterranean up to the coast of Cornwall. The smaller of the species are often known as sardines and in Cornwall the more mature fish, which are fatter and longer, are between 10 and 14 pieces per kilo. The Cornish season lasts from late June until the following February. Age old tradition methods are used by the Cornish boats; the larger vessels use ring nets to surround part of a shoal and bring it alongside whilst a brail net is used to haul the fish aboard into large tanks of seawater and ice. The tanks are emptied on the quayside into larger insulated bins of seawater and ice for transport to local fish wholesalers or processor's.
Keep it simple!!!
Sardines are as good to look at as they are to eat; washed, scaled and lined up on a tray they scream out for simple cooking and flavours. They cook quickly and are first rate with good olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and some fresh oregano. Capers and dried chilli flakes do the trick, as does a sprinkling of smoked paprika if you're feeling a bit Spanish.
