Species sheet · The Edible River
Northern pike
Motionless in the weeds, until the strike.
- As quenelles, Lyon-style
- With beurre blanc, the Loire valley classic
- Stuffed and oven-roasted
- In French
- Brochet
- Scientific name
- Esox lucius
- In the water
- A large predator of slow rivers, lakes and ponds across the northern hemisphere, lurking in weed beds and reeds before bursting out at its prey.
- Season & buying
- Fishing closes in late winter and spring to protect spawning; it comes mostly from anglers, the Dombes pond drainings and fish farms.
- Common length
- ~60 cm
- How to identify it
- Long body with a flat, duck-bill snout
Olive green coat marbled with pale spots
Dorsal fin set far back, close to the tail
On the plate
White, lean, firm and fine flesh, but bristling with Y-shaped bones.
Avoid: Serving it as a carelessly cut fillet: the forked bones stay in. Pull them out with tweezers or push the flesh through a sieve.
Its hundreds of teeth point backwards: prey once seized cannot slip out, and it swallows fish half its own length.
In Umay recipes
2 Umay recipes call for it.
