Norway - Skrei and King Crab

Until the end of April, most restaurants in Norway display skrei on the menu. It is a cod that has traveled thousands of kilometers against the current from the Barents Sea to spawn in the clear waters of the Lofoten archipelago.

Its flesh is therefore muscular and sharp, delicate and of a pearly whiteness.

Early in the morning, accompanied by the cries of the seagulls, the small trawlers leave the ports to carry out this miraculous fishing. Near the ports, strange wooden racks stand: the cod, called skrei at the end of their long journey of 2000 kilometers, are hung there to dry.

Headed and gutted, tied in pairs, they stay like that until June, with their backs to the wind, losing ¾ of their weight. Then called “stokkfisk”, they keep for many months, even years. In bars, instead of peanuts, small pieces of these dried fish are often served. It may be less fatty, but, personally, I prefer peanuts!
Part of the cod is salted before drying: this is the "kipfish", the cod. But a large part is sold fresh for restoration.
To preserve the species, fishing is strictly regulated and is done only in the traditional way on board small boats.

A tough fishing

Skrei fishing once attracted more than 30,000 people to the Lofoten archipelago. The fishermen then lodged in these wooden chalets, the famous rorbuer, transformed today into lovely holiday cottages. At the time, the comfort there was much more rudimentary and the men were crammed there at 10 or 12.

Housing conditions that corresponded to the - appalling - working conditions. A film in the small ecomuseum of Njusfjord retraces this fishing in small boats, with rudimentary equipment. The fishermen were carried away sometimes by hundreds. All for a miserable pay. It was not until 1936 that a minimum price was set by the fishermen's cooperatives!
Today, there are only a few thousand fishermen who wait each January for the arrival of the skrei.

Nothing is lost

As with pork, everything is good with fish!
Cod liver oil, for starters. Its medicinal properties are recognized: it is good for the heart, eyesight and joints.

The sailors applied it to the skin to protect it, they waterproofed their clothes with it, used it to light up... In short, the smell of fish was omnipresent!
Then there are the eggs. When reading "kaviar", don't rejoice too soon! Norwegian kaviar has nothing to do with the famous sturgeon eggs! Salty and sweet, arctic cod roe is prepared in a kind of local tamara.

As for the chefs of gourmet cuisine, they gladly prepare codfish tongues.
The dried heads are exported to Africa and the waste is spread in the fields, fertilizing the land and feeding the seagulls which, well sated, thus spare the cod hung on the wooden racks, the "stokk".

Russian king crab

Another “miraculous” catch is that of the Kamchatka king crab, highly appreciated for its delicate and tasty flesh, a bit like lobster. Giant crabs that can weigh up to 12 kg (usually 8 kg, which is not bad!) for a wingspan of 2 meters!

In 1961, the Soviets had the idea of ​​taking crabs from their native environment, Bristol Bay in Alaska, to send them to Vladivostok and provide a new resource for this very poor region.
But if in the North Pacific, wolf fish have limited the population of crabs, in Russia they have no predators. From there, they reached Norwegian waters, impoverishing the seabed because they devour fish, shellfish... And since each female lays several tens of thousands of eggs a year, they swarm.

This giant crab, looking loke a spider, is a delight for gourmets. If it can be found in France (alas, often frozen), it is better to taste it on the spot. Why not after fishing it? It is in the region of Finnmark that the local fishermen offer the opportunity to bring up the crab pots before cooking them. It's a real feast!