Will elvers be banned?
This is what I asked
Juanjo López
, patron of
La Tasquita
.
“At the prices at which they are quoted, we will end up not eating them.
Today, January 14, I have paid 1,200 euros per kilo”, he replied resignedly while showing me a pan with 250 grams.
"They come from the Miño, I only serve them with a prior order."
“They are not always so expensive”, I replied convinced.
“As you know, in autumn they were around 600 euros per kilo.
Prices skyrocket at Christmas and, right now, in the week prior to
San Sebastian
Day (January 20), a date on which they
have as much roots in
Donosti as the tamborrada itself."
JC CAPEL
Why do we pay outrageous amounts if they don't know anything?
I usually comment to my friend Dr.
Juan Antonio Duyos
, a true specialist. "They are overvalued," he emphasizes convinced. At the end of last autumn we had met at the
La Huertona
restaurant for a tasting of these fingerlings captured in
Ribadesella
, slaughtered and cooked by the exceptional grill chef
José Viejo
, who presented them to us in different ways. It was not the first time we met for the same purpose. with
duyos
, who has dedicated hours to studying the biological cycle of eels, the fishing gear used, their historical references and the ways of preparing them, I have a debate in which we will never agree:
white back or black back?
which angles are better?
"Forget the loin, the key is that they are well treated, that they have been slaughtered shortly after being caught and that the recipe is appropriate," he insists.
“Since glass eels only have texture, I prefer the black ones when they start to develop their backbone to become eels.
At least they have a bite”, I usually reply with a smile.
A plate of baby eels from La Huertona restaurant, in Ribadesella.JC CAPEL
Viejo
presented them to us in different ways.
First, in a salad with a gastronomic trap included.
Later, in a casserole with garlic and oil, in the traditional style, as I liked them the most.
“Try these two salads, see if you appreciate the differences.
Mixed eels are sold in the market
.
Those that arrive dead are frozen and at the time of cooking they are mixed with the live ones that have just been killed in an infusion of tobacco.
Both are washed and cooked at the same time.
The dead ones have a flaccid texture.
A
routine fraud
.
At the prices that are going, it is logical that they are not thrown away, but the state of each one is hidden.
The dead ones are priced at 200 euros per kilo and the live ones we are buying at more than 700 in the Brotherhood”.
How's the fishing?
“
In
Ribadesella
this week only four kilos.
In Asturias, fishing is not prohibited, unlike in
the Basque Country
or
Andalusia
, although they are subject to closed seasons and there are few authorized fishermen.
Licenses that expire due to death are not renewed.
In the end, they will end up disappearing, they are the only fingerlings whose fishing is authorized.
We must be consistent.
This fall has been a disaster.
Now at the end of November you can't find them, no matter what you pay.
José Andrés
asked me for two kilos that I have not been able to send them to him”.
One of the proposals to eat eels in La Tasquita.JC CAPEL
Are they worth what they cost?
"Absolutely.
Its price is a real madness, it does not correspond to its gastronomic qualities.
The paradox is that, for the eel fishermen, who stay from seven in the evening to seven in the morning to take 100 grams to the rula, the price barely compensates them.
Twelve hours passing the net over and over again to catch an elver or none in each set.
A wreck."
How do you treat them at La Huertona?
“The ones you are going to take did not go through any nursery.
They were caught last night, we killed them today and cooked them right away.
I like the ones that are caught in the surf when the waves threaten.
As they enter the estuary they begin to thin out, change color and begin to bury themselves”.
Black or white spine?
“The debate goes back a long way.
I prefer the
black-backed ones
, because of their bite, when they evolve into eels.
Formerly it was just the opposite, those with a white back were preferred.
Fashion changed in the last third of the last century.
In
Asturias,
from October to November, the merchants who sold their eels in
Madrid
and the
Basque Country
kept their nurseries in the flow of streams.
Prices when December arrived were multiplied by three or four.
As their backs turn black in contact with fresh water, at Christmas there were plenty of black ones, which were priced higher due to greater demand.
Mere economic speculation unrelated to its gastronomic qualities”.
In La Huertona they kill elvers with an infusion of tobacco. JC CAPEL
I don't know any
gourmet
who is as fond of the mysterious world of eels as my friend
Duyos
.
In his accounts on Instagram or Twitter, he spares no information about his experiences with eels now that we are in the middle of the season.
Nor allusions to old books in which he looks for details of his fishing and biology.
“If you want to eat good eels, go to
El Pescador
restaurant , in San Juan de la Arena;
or to
La Huertona,
in Ribadesella;
or to the
Bedúa farmhouse,
in Zumaia”, he told me not long ago.
Or to
Estimar
, in Madrid, I reminded him in turn, where we have held some of our meetings.
JC CAPEL
"I don't think glass eels are going to go extinct, or that their fishing will be banned in the future." “In Aguinaga they haven't been fished for years. A considerable percentage of what we take in Spain comes from France, where responsible fishing prevails with the commitment to repopulate the rivers,”
Diego García
, owner of
Pescaderías Coruñesas
and heir to a family of eel fishermen, told me.
Less optimistic is
Enrique Bonet
, director of
Angulas Roset
,
a company with more than 60 years of experience specializing in the marketing of elvers and eels in the
Ebro delta
.
“In northern Europe there are organizations that defend the species and carry out annual repopulations.
It is possible that in the future the consumption of glass eels will not be sustainable and restrictions will be imposed.
Our activity is now focused on eels, succulents, which we understand to have a much better future”.
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Twitter: @JCCapel and on Instagram: @jccapel