One of my most endearing memories of childhood was catching perch in a Norwegian lake from a small boat, then getting our mum to cook them. Fried in butter there were delicious.
Living in France I am fortunate in having not only many ways to catch fish but also many recipes for many fish/ crustacea because as you know our French friends eat pretty much any part of anything that moves
.
PERCH:
I found a nice simple recipe for how to prepare Perch from a web site for tourism in the Charente Maritime region ( translated in English as well). Also a useful hint for keeping fish fresh after capture:
In place of lemon you could use Sorrel ( be aware of possible problems with long term use though)
CRAYFISH:
A GREAT and underrated wild food source IMO.
I brought a Crayfish trap last year and am about to go out and use it and will post results. Also I intend to trial various techniques for catching them more suitable for Bushcrafting (i.e. light and foldable traps etc.). They taste superb, are easy to cook and you also help to reduce numbers of the invasive American Signal Crayfish which is wiping out the native Crayfish both in the UK and France ( and other countries in Europe).
But be aware that it is illegal at present in the UK to trap Crayfish without a licencxe from the Environment Agency! Mostly a reaction to this serious problem and the need to ensure they are not transported alive to other waters which do not have them yet. Serious fines if caught. Here in France sense reigns and as long as you stick to the 2-3 invading species you can catch all year round what you want. BUT you have to kill them as you catch them and serious fines for moving them even to home to cook. But for out in the wild a great natural resource.
You can check out current byelaws on crayfish fishing at the EA:
EA Crayfish byelaw info
A basic guide on preparing Crayfish to eat ( there are many great recipes in France and Scandinavia especially Sweden where they are a delicacy!):
I bet you are salivating now :biggthump
If people are interested I will post a thread on Crayfish trapping both in the UK and France.
If you doubted using frshwater fish as a source of food then check out this great story of how they formed the staple diet of in Fermanagh during the early C20th:
FONTY:
THE STORY OF A LOUGH ERNE FISHERMAN
A small quote:
If you ever caught a 'Snotty' or Bream will know it is hard to imagine eating them! But it seems they have there uses also.
POISONIOUS FRESHWATER FISH IN UK:
There is in fact at least 1 potentially poisonous freshwater fish found in the UK, the European river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis)
Source: Bristow, P., 1992. The illustrated encyclopedia of fishes. Chancellor Press, London.
But Lamprey ( there are a number of species) haver been used historically as a source of food (The lamprey was considered something of a delicacy with England's royal family, and in fact, the sea lamprey is supposed to have killed King Henry I, who reputedly died in Normandy in 1135 after feeding too heartily on them!) and deemed a delicacy still.
Source: Frimodt, C., 1995. Multilingual illustrated guide to the world's commercial coldwater fish. Fishing News Books, Osney Mead, Oxford, England. 215 p.
To give a good idea of exactly how varied and rated fresh fish have been historically before we lost the knowledge check out that old favourite source of cooking in days gone by in the UK, Mrs (Isabella) Beaton in her 'The Book of Household Management'. Check out Chapter 8 which is convieniently available online here (worth reading the others chapters relating to food also for new ideas in food foraging):
Mrs Beaton's 'The Book of Household Management'-Chapter 8-Recipes-Fish
GUDGEON/ GOUJON:
For example I have recently been researching freshwater fish eaten in France and one which most people still remember catching as kids (alas old traditions tend to die out even here in the heart of rural France) is the Goujon (you know know why we call it a 'goujon' of chicken, fish etc as a small fish shaped pice of meat/ fish!) or Gudgeon in English. It is a pretty simple fish to catch using either simple fishing tackle or nets/ traps and was often cooked like whitebait (and still is).
Mrs Beaton states:
And you also now know why we call small fish in rivers 'fry' :biggthump ( or friture as the French refer to them as). Actually often it is worth thinking 'SMALL' with fish as they are often more abundant, easier to catch and you dont have the same hassle with bones as with adult fish (think whitebait of course or sardines as an example from sea fish. Personally I would recommend carrying a small quantity of olive oil for cooking as it gives a great flavour on it's own ( just remember it has a lower flash point than other oils and burns more easily), salt really brings out the flavour of fish and either (ideally) fresh lemon juice, small container of concentrated uice or say Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella). Not forgetting of course Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)!
OK now I am hungry and I understand there are around 87 species of freshwater fish in the UK and 106 in France
Finally I have a great old picture of eel babbing on the Thames and will have to scan some info because there is little detail on the net I could find. But it is one of the few 'non hook' methods of catching fish so useful for us I think. Now just for a simple way to smoke fish out in the wild
'Tight Lines' as they say.....
Simon
ps Roving Rich, I reckon you may well know my brother Rich (Lisney?!) Lives near Bath where I came from before the big move en famille to France.
Living in France I am fortunate in having not only many ways to catch fish but also many recipes for many fish/ crustacea because as you know our French friends eat pretty much any part of anything that moves
.PERCH:
I found a nice simple recipe for how to prepare Perch from a web site for tourism in the Charente Maritime region ( translated in English as well). Also a useful hint for keeping fish fresh after capture:
In place of lemon you could use Sorrel ( be aware of possible problems with long term use though)
CRAYFISH:
A GREAT and underrated wild food source IMO.
I brought a Crayfish trap last year and am about to go out and use it and will post results. Also I intend to trial various techniques for catching them more suitable for Bushcrafting (i.e. light and foldable traps etc.). They taste superb, are easy to cook and you also help to reduce numbers of the invasive American Signal Crayfish which is wiping out the native Crayfish both in the UK and France ( and other countries in Europe).
But be aware that it is illegal at present in the UK to trap Crayfish without a licencxe from the Environment Agency! Mostly a reaction to this serious problem and the need to ensure they are not transported alive to other waters which do not have them yet. Serious fines if caught. Here in France sense reigns and as long as you stick to the 2-3 invading species you can catch all year round what you want. BUT you have to kill them as you catch them and serious fines for moving them even to home to cook. But for out in the wild a great natural resource.
You can check out current byelaws on crayfish fishing at the EA:
EA Crayfish byelaw info
A basic guide on preparing Crayfish to eat ( there are many great recipes in France and Scandinavia especially Sweden where they are a delicacy!):
I bet you are salivating now :biggthump
If people are interested I will post a thread on Crayfish trapping both in the UK and France.
If you doubted using frshwater fish as a source of food then check out this great story of how they formed the staple diet of in Fermanagh during the early C20th:
FONTY:
THE STORY OF A LOUGH ERNE FISHERMAN
A small quote:
If you ever caught a 'Snotty' or Bream will know it is hard to imagine eating them! But it seems they have there uses also.
POISONIOUS FRESHWATER FISH IN UK:
There is in fact at least 1 potentially poisonous freshwater fish found in the UK, the European river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis)
Source: Bristow, P., 1992. The illustrated encyclopedia of fishes. Chancellor Press, London.
But Lamprey ( there are a number of species) haver been used historically as a source of food (The lamprey was considered something of a delicacy with England's royal family, and in fact, the sea lamprey is supposed to have killed King Henry I, who reputedly died in Normandy in 1135 after feeding too heartily on them!) and deemed a delicacy still.
Source: Frimodt, C., 1995. Multilingual illustrated guide to the world's commercial coldwater fish. Fishing News Books, Osney Mead, Oxford, England. 215 p.
To give a good idea of exactly how varied and rated fresh fish have been historically before we lost the knowledge check out that old favourite source of cooking in days gone by in the UK, Mrs (Isabella) Beaton in her 'The Book of Household Management'. Check out Chapter 8 which is convieniently available online here (worth reading the others chapters relating to food also for new ideas in food foraging):
Mrs Beaton's 'The Book of Household Management'-Chapter 8-Recipes-Fish
GUDGEON/ GOUJON:
For example I have recently been researching freshwater fish eaten in France and one which most people still remember catching as kids (alas old traditions tend to die out even here in the heart of rural France) is the Goujon (you know know why we call it a 'goujon' of chicken, fish etc as a small fish shaped pice of meat/ fish!) or Gudgeon in English. It is a pretty simple fish to catch using either simple fishing tackle or nets/ traps and was often cooked like whitebait (and still is).
Mrs Beaton states:
And you also now know why we call small fish in rivers 'fry' :biggthump ( or friture as the French refer to them as). Actually often it is worth thinking 'SMALL' with fish as they are often more abundant, easier to catch and you dont have the same hassle with bones as with adult fish (think whitebait of course or sardines as an example from sea fish. Personally I would recommend carrying a small quantity of olive oil for cooking as it gives a great flavour on it's own ( just remember it has a lower flash point than other oils and burns more easily), salt really brings out the flavour of fish and either (ideally) fresh lemon juice, small container of concentrated uice or say Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella). Not forgetting of course Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)!
OK now I am hungry and I understand there are around 87 species of freshwater fish in the UK and 106 in France
Finally I have a great old picture of eel babbing on the Thames and will have to scan some info because there is little detail on the net I could find. But it is one of the few 'non hook' methods of catching fish so useful for us I think. Now just for a simple way to smoke fish out in the wild
'Tight Lines' as they say.....
Simon
ps Roving Rich, I reckon you may well know my brother Rich (Lisney?!) Lives near Bath where I came from before the big move en famille to France.
I assume just large and tall clay flower pots. Do you put the embers in the bottom and the green stuff on top and close to smoke? The smoked goose sounds great! We have mostly seasoned Oak around here which should do for the fuel.
