Fresh Fish - Delicious!

More than 160 ships put out for sea or coastal fishing grounds regularly from Nordsee ports. Here fresh fish comes fresh from the net or the line into the pan. In Emden, the "Matjes" ("young herring") days have been celebrated since the ‘80s. The delicate pink oily herring are eaten well salted and each year attract many large sailing boats to the harbour. For North Sea holidaymakers, a day-trip on a shrimping cutter followed by shrimp shelling is one of the highlights of their holiday. Shrimps are as much a part of the Nordsee holiday experience as the tides. They are the greatest delicacy that the coast has to offer. The grey sea creatures are boiled whilst still on the cutter to become a delicious pink delicacy. Shelling takes a bit of practice – but practice makes perfect. Those who don't fancy shelling shrimp will have no trouble finding a fish café with delicacies from the catch.

Inland, fishing is still carried out with fish traps in the larger lakes – the Steinhuder Sea is famous for its plentiful eels, which are real delicatessen when smoked. On the Lüneburger Heide and by the Elbe, the smelt catch is experiencing something of a renaissance. The hand-sized fish of the salmon family is in German also called the "cucumber fish" because of its unique taste. They swim up the rivers from the North Sea to spawn. Smelt used to be present in such large numbers that they were used on fields as fertiliser. There are still echoes of these days in streets and squares, such as the Stintmarkt ("smelt market") in Lüneburg. Today, river fishers can once more look forward to growing numbers in the spring. A simple, companionable smelt dish with plenty of schnapps to aid digestion is a culinary highlight of the Niedersachsen realm of water.

Evaluate article

Your evaluation of this article

Our reader's comments

Footer