Species sheet · The Edible River
Roach
Red fins, red eye, wherever the water sleeps.
- Deep-fried whole when small
- Smoked or salted and dried
- Escabeche-style with vinegar and onions
- In French
- Gardon
- Scientific name
- Rutilus rutilus
- In the water
- The most common fish of slow European rivers, canals, ponds and lakes, in large shoals in midwater near the weed beds.
- Season & buying
- Caught year-round by anglers; it is the fish of summer fry-ups and winter preserves.
- Common length
- ~20 cm
- How to identify it
- Bright red belly and anal fins
Red iris, silver body with crisp scales
Blue-green back and a tidy, even outline
On the plate
White, mild flesh, fine but full of bones, that takes well to frying and smoke.
Avoid: Picking the big ones: the larger a roach grows, the more its bones get in the way. Small ones are eaten whole.
Its Caspian cousins, salted and dried, are the traditional companion to a glass of beer in Russia.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
