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Behind his worktop, Olivier Junod debates catfish to the chain. Precise succession of gestures and stabs, without wasting time. On the speed of the preparation process depends the taste quality of the nets which will be offered for fresh, smoked or frozen sale. Restaurateurs and private are starting to take an interest in the giant of the Lake Neuchâtel but given the a priori negative that it drags in its wake, there is no right to error. The Bevaix fisherman knows this well. But he has full confidence in the products he offers. They result from a whole know-how developed in the past five years by professionals of its generation.
A little earlier in the afternoon, his colleague from Grandson, Nicolas Chevallier, with whom he collaborates for the fishing of certain species, whose catfish, returned from the lake with a large ten specimens. Not the moment they prefer: it is then a question of stunning the fish with a bourdin before bleeding them, lifting the nets, refreshing them in the clear water, then of meticulously ward them. Each step has its importance so that the catfish escapes the aromas of vase that the refractories lend it. “Compared to other fish, you have to remove a lot of things that actually give a pronounced lake taste,” decrypts Olivier Junod. Do you see this fat? Not good. This darker, almost black part? In tuna, some are looking for it; In the catfish, it is too strong. ”