Comments on: Seafood Section, La Boqueria, Barcelona

By: MGR

MGR — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 04:47:46 +0000

We had turbot in Istanbul and yes it was fantastic..but as great as it may be, my fave still goes to the “freidurias” of Malaga (Spain) and Puerto de Sta. Maria (also in Spain)..when it comes to fish in particular. I haven’t had fish fried that tasted so light and fresh that it’s a sin to add lemon and insult the cook. They won’t even dare serve bad seafood and ruin their reputation. Of course Galicia (northwest Spain) challenges the seafood section but Barcelona too has so much complex cooking techniques it’s mind-boggling.
Tip: Do the safari in Tanzania (the great migration in the Serengeti will blow you away).

By: Katrina

Katrina — Wed, 31 May 2006 09:31:20 +0000

I’m confused about St. Peter’s fish vs. tilapia too. My parents went to Israel, where they were served the former — like you said, with much pride in the its introduction. But then when they ate it, they said it was just tilapia!

By: Marketman

Marketman — Mon, 29 May 2006 08:55:03 +0000

Apicio, gotta get me one of those turbotiere, if only to annoy some of my more SENSITIVE readers…heeheehee. Actually, I have never cooked turbot myself though I have eaten it a few times… Gonzo, you are reading our minds…as folks are wont to do after a great trip, they talk and plan the next one…and Turkey and Greece were certainly up on the priority list…but so was an African Safari, Chile/Patagonia, Bhutan, Southern France & Northern Italy, etc. Trish, I think the two fish just seem to have the unfortunate sharing of English names…they cannot be mistaken for each other once cooked and certainly not when fresh…

By: Mandy

Mandy — Sun, 28 May 2006 10:56:44 +0000

the john dory shows that no matter how ugly the fish, it can taste so good, right? i was just watching an interview of a guy who wrote about how the chilean seabass got all hyped up. and how ugly it looks (of course we see it all “filleted”-up already), and how unglamorous the real name of this so called seabass. it’s not even from chile, not even a seabass! in reality, it’s called the patagonian toothfish, and what a toothy fish. no wonder they sell it with the head off! :)

By: Apicio

Apicio — Sat, 27 May 2006 11:39:42 +0000

I can only readily second Gonzoâ€™s assertion there. One of the great cuisines of the Mediterranean and yet still sadly recondite. A fall out no doubt of the age-old Western antipathy towards the Ottoman and its Janizzaries as witness the more recent resistance against integration (on the part of the rest of Europe).

By: trishlovesbread

trishlovesbread — Sat, 27 May 2006 08:14:17 +0000

Oops, typo–I meant “if” not “it”.

By: trishlovesbread

trishlovesbread — Sat, 27 May 2006 08:13:14 +0000

Hmmm….it they’re so different, why are John Dory and Tilapia mistaken for each other?

By: gonzo

gonzo — Sat, 27 May 2006 02:50:13 +0000

in Spain, turbot is called rodaballo, and is highly esteemed, as it is in Turkey, called kalkan; fantastically expensive on the menus of the marvellous fish restaurants along the Bosphorus in Istanbul (for seafood people, you haven’t lived til you’ve eaten the seafood in Istanbul!). and that’s right, turbot grows to a phenomenal size.

hey how come no snaps of the bacalao section?

By: Apicio

Apicio — Sat, 27 May 2006 02:01:46 +0000

Yes turbot, even more delicious than the famous Dover sole. They successfully raise them now in fish pens all over Europe, specially Spain. They grow to an astounding size, the largest one I saw was the good size of a bakery cookie sheet. They were highly priced by the Ã©lite of the Victorian era and cooked them whole in special tinned copper pans called turbotiÃ©re, not unlike your Ã©litist fish fryer.