Lamprey

Lamproie

What it is

Gloucester owed the Crown a lamprey pie each Christmas, and King John fined the city forty marks the year it failed to send one. The animal has no jaw, no bones and no scales; the Bordeaux dish bleeds it live and thickens the red wine with its own blood.

In the kitchen

Scald it at 70 °C and scrape the slime coat off before anything else, or the sauce turns grey and slippery. Catch the blood in a bowl with a spoonful of red wine to stop it clotting, and stir it in off the heat at the very end — over heat it curdles.

Goes with

Leek Garlic Red wine vinegar Thyme Bay leaf Shallot Black pepper Lard

In season alongside

Woodcock Lamb neck Lamb shoulder Figatellu Goose Hare

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