Long shunned, the catfish is gradually imposed in the Swiss plates. This giant, unlocked but abundant fish, is attracting more and more fishermen, restaurateurs and curious customers.
The catfish is not an attractive fish. But this giant – the biggest and largest predator of Swiss lakes and rivers – is, it seems, excellent on the plate. In recent years, Pierre-Alain Chevalley, fisherman on Lake Neuchâtel, has been converted into catfish. A solution to compensate for the gradual disappearance of other species.
“This is the fish on which you can rely in summer, while usually it was rather the pale. Now, with the extremely low quantity of paddles, it is not possible to live with that,” he underlines at the microphone of the 7:30 p.m.
Increase in the number of catfish
That morning, fishing is not miraculous. And yet, the number of catfish caught in Switzerland has multiplied by fifteen in twenty years. What satisfy an ever more numerous clientele.
“The first year, when I started to provide my private customers, it was a little scary,” continues the fisherman. “Afterwards, almost everyone who tasted returned. And in restaurants, it is also developing very well.”
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“More beautiful on the palate than in real”
Always more chiefs are now on this flesh still little known to the general public. On the edges of Lake Geneva, in Bursinel, for example, the catfish has been on the menu for a few weeks, alongside the traditional pole fillets.
“I would say that it is a fish that looks like the flesh of the pike, but which is less strong in taste and which is more subtle in tasting”, describes Pierre Puget, restaurateur at the municipal inn La Clef d’Or.
That evening, many customers come to test this fish for the first time. And the feedback is enthusiastic: “Surprising. Super good,” says one of them. “It was excellent, tasted, tender,” adds another. “It is more beautiful in the mouth than in real, indeed”, jokes a third.
An emerging enthusiasm for this aquatic predator who, after having conquered the lakes and a few terraces, could soon be invited on the shelves of large surfaces.
Pierre Jenny/FGN