Species sheet · The Edible River
Nase
A horny lip scraping the stone.
- Hot-smoked, central European style
- Deep-fried, finely scored
- Pickled in vinegar with onions
- In French
- Hotu
- Scientific name
- Chondrostoma nasus
- In the water
- A schooling fish of fast central European rivers that reached the Loire and Seine through the canals; it grazes algae off pebbles in tight shoals.
- Season & buying
- Caught in spring and summer; in spring the shoals run up onto the gravel to spawn and are easily taken.
- Common length
- ~30 cm
- How to identify it
- Mouth set under the snout with a hard, sharp lower lip
Blue-grey back, silver flanks, orange-red fins
Streamlined body with a prominent nose
On the plate
White, firm, slightly dry flesh full of fine bones; the belly cavity is lined with a black membrane.
Avoid: Forgetting the black belly lining: it brings a sharp bitterness, so scrape it out completely.
Every spring thousands of nase crowd onto the riffles to spawn, red fins breaking the surface, a spectacle anglers wait for year after year.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
