After four years in fruition, the line-caught bluefin tuna fishery opened on Cornwall a few weeks ago. Since then a dozen of these superb fish have been caught exclusively by hook and line in accordance within MMO rules and monitoring. They have ranged in size from 60 to well over 120kg in weight.
In order to land the fish in the best possible condition, once caught and taken aboard, the individual fish are carefully gutted, gilled and the cavities filled with flake ice in order to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible and maintain the highest quality...
once on the market, fishery officials from the MMO are on hand to monitor and record every fish landed to build a picture of the fishery in order to ensure successful management of the stock...
of course, that is just the start of the story with these fish which, if not served immediately as sashimi, need to be carefully filleted...
cut into joints...
to get the best from each cut...
only then can local chef's like Bruce Rennie at The Shore in Penzance get the best from the fish - in this dish, buckthorn (from his garden) ponzu matured with the smoked brown tuna meat, year-old pickled turnips, and local producer Dan's biquinho pepper...
then, moving up the county where Cornwall is blessed with that master of fish cheffery, Nathan Outlaw who was lucky enough to get his hands on a stunning 63kg bluefin tuna, sustainably caught by the Prospector in Newlyn, on what was only their second trip since obtaining their license from ICCAT to fish for bluefin earlier this month. Fish merchant George Cleave supplied the fish which he quickly got to work on filleting, ready to start serving on the evening menu!..
Like Bruce, every single part of that beauty is used, so keep your eyes open to see what dishes Nathan comes up - like these personal favourites: - raw tartare - seared with peppercorn hollandaise - cured with ginger, spring onion & yoghurt - pan-fried with mushroom cream, Szechuan, coriander & pickled red cabbage What a special treat!🙏🧜♀️- if you’re dining at outlaws Outlaw's New Road or the Fish Kitchen, you’re in for an extra special treat! 🧜♀️👍