Every year, as the summer loosens its grip, the lampuki arrive. For a few short months it is the only fish anyone talks about.
There is a fish that tells the Maltese calendar better than any date. When the lampuki start running, usually from the back end of August, summer is over whatever the thermometer says.
Lampuki — dorado, mahi-mahi, dolphinfish, depending on who you ask — travel through Maltese waters in the autumn and are caught the old way, under floats of palm fronds that give the fish shade to gather beneath. It is a method older than anyone can date, and it still works.
Why the island waits for it
The flesh is firm and white and takes heat well, which is why every Maltese family cooks it differently and every one of them is certain theirs is correct. Grilled with nothing but lemon and good oil. Fried in slices with capers and olives. Baked into torta tal-lampuki, the pie that turns a fish into a family occasion.
The season is short — a matter of weeks, running through autumn and gone by winter. That is the point. Food that arrives, is eaten well, and is missed until next year.
Ask what came in this morning. In autumn, the answer is usually lampuki.
Our fish changes with what the boats bring in, so the menu moves with the season.
There is a fish that tells the Maltese calendar better than any date. When the lampuki start running, usually from the back end of August, summer is over whatever the thermometer says.
Lampuki — dorado, mahi-mahi, dolphinfish, depending on who you ask — travel through Maltese waters in the autumn and are caught the old way, under floats of palm fronds that give the fish shade to gather beneath. It is a method older than anyone can date, and it still works.
Why the island waits for it
The flesh is firm and white and takes heat well, which is why every Maltese family cooks it differently and every one of them is certain theirs is correct. Grilled with nothing but lemon and good oil. Fried in slices with capers and olives. Baked into torta tal-lampuki, the pie that turns a fish into a family occasion.
The season is short — a matter of weeks, running through autumn and gone by winter. That is the point. Food that arrives, is eaten well, and is missed until next year.
Ask what came in this morning. In autumn, the answer is usually lampuki.
Our fish changes with what the boats bring in, so the menu moves with the season.
Previous post
Next post