Allis shad

Alose

What it is

It lives at sea and climbs the rivers once, in spring, to spawn - the Loire and the Gironde carried the great runs until the dams, and the counts now come in hundreds where they once came in tens of thousands. The classic alose à l'oseille braises it for hours on a bed of sorrel, whose acid was long held to dissolve the fine bones; cooks still disagree about whether it does.

In the kitchen

Give it two to three hours in a low oven on a thick bed of sorrel - a short cooking leaves you picking bones all through the meal. Have the fillets scored deeply every few millimetres: the cuts sever the fine bones, which no filleting removes.

Goes with

Sorrel Butter Cream Shallot White wine vinegar Lemon Parsley Bay leaf

Same species

Shad roe

In season alongside

Swordfish Albacore Bonito (katsuo) Mackerel Meagre Tuna

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us