Names of fish in Italian

 

Sign number 56852091 that I’m totally morphing into a domesticated being:

 

It’s 11 pm and I am translating the entire flyer/advertisement from the hypermart from Italian into English.  And deriving an unexplainable satisfaction out of it too >____<

 

You know, I’ve been having a hard time buying fish at the hypermart coz of course, their fish is different from the ones we have back home. Lots of trout, salmon, halibut. cod. But I’m not accustomed to these types of fish. So what we did was to experiment slowly with the different types of fish and buy different types each time we go fish shopping.

 

I like salmon. Grilled, pan-fried, almost any way is good for me.  (Try it with balsamic vinegar, really good). It’s meaty, smooth and almost buttery even. Will buy again.

 

I HATED trout although it comes from the same family as salmon. Perhaps we bought the fresh water type. We’ll never know. But I will never buy it again. It was sooo fishy tasting. Bleargh.

 

Sardines. Not from the can, but fresh. Cheap. Tastes quite good grilled. But the bones. OH THE BONESSSSS! Do not believe what they tell you about being able to eat the pin bones and all. IMPOSSIBLE. It had the most bone I have ever come across on a fish. And mind you, its not just the “backbone” I’m talking about here, but the TINY, sharp bones that are not tiny enough to be eaten whole and swallowed. Out of 8 fish, I only managed 1 teeny one.  That too with a little bone getting stuck in my throat. Luckily it went down quite easily. I dunno how HB managed to eat the rest. Will never buy again.

 

Perch. We bought the African Perch. Quite cheap. Quite tasty baked with breadcrumbs, garlic and cheese. Light taste to it. Will buy again.

 

Tuna. Not those in a can, but tuna steaks. Man, they are really meaty. And mighty expensive too! Like EUR9 per piece (per person!). I ate this at a friend’s place over here. Although I thought it was mighty generous of him to cook tuna steaks for 5 of us (that’s about EUR50 for one course), I thought he could’ve made it a little more interesting instead of just pan frying it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Quite yummy, but don’t think I’d buy it coz of cost. I’ll stick to canned tuna thankyouverymuch

 

Anchovies. (Not ikan bilis) I figured, since I’ve been waxing lyrical about Foccacia with anchovy in my previous post, I’d take a picture of how the anchovy looks like.

 

Alici

 

Now this 720 gram jar of yumminess doesn’t come cheap. It’s about EUR10. The anchovy fillets are soaked in olive oil. They may not look very appetizing here, but oh trusttt me, they are to die for.

 

And in case you are curious, the jar on the left (melanzane) contains aubergine/eggplant, tomatoes and some other goodies. It’s sorta like a pickle. I have no idea how it tastes like. HB got it as part of his company’s Xmas goodie bag. Actually it came in a box, and I was as amazed as heck at the contents. But I digress. And the carton on the right contains tomato paste.

 

So yeah, anchovies. I’ve not bought the fresh version, but the jar ones as above: Will SO buy again and again

 

Gilt Head Bream. Oh my. Finally! A type of fish suitable for Asian cooking. I steam it Chinese style. It was sooo good satisfying my (our) craving for Chinese style steamed fish. The other fish I mentioned above are not suited for Asian style cooking. But bream, it was heavenly. The flesh was firm, tender and sweet. Will definitely buy again.

 

I actually spent a whole hour looking up types of fish and its name in Italian, so that the next time I go fish shopping, I won’t be so perplexed and go eeny meeny miny moe to pick one. >____<

 

I know how frustrating it can be to not know what you’re buying, so if you’re a non Italian who speaks/reads English AND who can’t tell a catfish from a stingray , here’s a list of popular fish, those in bold are in Italian:

 

Salmon               =   Salmone (duh)

Trout                   =   Trota

Perch                  =   Persico

Anchovy          =    Alici / Acciuga

Sardines           =   Sardina

Gilthead bream   =  Orata

Sea bream(red)   =  Pagro

Bass                         = Branzino/spigola

Sogliola                  =  Sole

Cod                          =  Merluzzo

Herring                  =  Aringa

Mackerel              = Maccerello / sgombro

John Dory           = Pesce San Pietro

Tuna                      = Tonno

Octopus               = Polpo

Squid                    = Calamaro/Totariello

Flounder            = Passera Pianuzza

Haddock             = Asinello

 

 

I’m not all THAT bad when it comes to picking out fish, it’s just that I’m more accustomed to Ikan Tenggiri, Ikan Kembung, Ikan Bawal, Ikan Selar you get my drift

 

Damn. I can’t believe I wrote an entire post about fish.