Species sheet · The Edible River
European whitefish
Lake silver, schooling in the blue light.
- Fillets meuniere-style or pan-fried skin-side down
- Baked en papillote with Savoie white wine
- Smoked, or raw in a well-seasoned tartare
- In French
- Lavaret
- Scientific name
- Coregonus lavaretus
- In the water
- A whitefish of the large, cold, deep lakes of Europe, schooling in open water, feeding on plankton and sinking towards the bottom in summer.
- Season & buying
- Fished from spring to autumn; fishing closes in winter during spawning, when it moves up onto the shallows.
- Common length
- ~35 cm
- How to identify it
- Streamlined silver body with a blue-green back
Small toothless mouth and pointed snout
Adipose fin, like the trouts
On the plate
White, fine, slightly fatty flesh that melts, with a delicate lake flavour.
Avoid: Overcooking it: the fine flesh falls apart and loses its softness with one minute too many.
The original fera of Lake Geneva vanished in the early twentieth century; today's fera descends from whitefish brought in from other lakes.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
