“The first thing we thought about was how to communicate that fish is not a stinky protein,” he says. Because, so that we all know, fish, unless it is already in decline and in the process of degradation, has a pleasant and marine smell. In short: it is not fishy.
Spreading that idea was and still is important. Once we eliminate prejudice from the equation, it is easier to enter the depths of the marine larder, as diverse as it is succulent. “Now fish is considered a premium protein and more people appreciate and consume it,” adds Sofía, standing at the door of the Jamat fish processing plant, a company dedicated to seafood that her father Ezequiel Hernández founded and that today it distributes products to restaurants and homes across the country.
In addition to bringing seafood to the tables of many diners, Jamat’s mission has been to plant ideas that generate better-informed consumers; that is, more empowered. Ezequiel, who also lives and has a base of operations in Baja California, has an almost Socratic approach to this.
For him, the only way to determine quality is to ask questions. “All fish have an intrinsic quality when they are in the water,” he says. The sea is democratic. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a mackerel or a tuna. In the water, both have qualities in which the hand of man does not intervene”. What is decisive is everything that happens afterwards. How was it captured? How was he sacrificed? How has it been processed? Once a fish leaves the water, it undergoes a stress process. “There are a series of changes that have to do with stress and energy expenditure that end up spoiling quality,” he clarifies.
Regarding the first question, Ezequiel responds by differentiating between the species that are fished with nets, those that are captured with large fishing boats and those that are fished, in smaller volumes, in boats, the practice that he prefers. “In a net, the fish has already fought and drowned, and this has an effect. You don’t want me to fight.”
The second question, very important, is about the sacrifice of the fish, because the better the sacrifice, the less suffering, and we already know that with less suffering there is less stress. “The consumer chooses how far he wants to go,” says Ezequiel. Sometimes, it is enough to ask questions and green up the field of our ideas.
SLAUGHTER METHODS:
IKEJIME: with a punch the brain death of the fish is caused. Then the marrow is destroyed and then a bleeding is done. The fish is cooled in salted sea slush.
Shukketsu: brain death is caused and bleeding is performed. The fish is also cooled in seawater slush.
BLOODED: cuts are made in specific parts of the fish which are then submerged in seawater slush.
KORIJIME: the catch is left to drown in a container of ice, without courtesy or cleanliness.
THE VERACRUZAN WAVE
In the search for diversity and quality there are several people sailing in the same boat, but there are also the chefs and their circles. An example is Érik Guerrero, a chef who came to Veracruz from the kitchen of Pujol, in Mexico City, and who, in parallel with DOS Restaurante, in Boca del Río, ended up embarking on the Nuestra Pesca project, a fish marketer that, like Ezequiel, part of the idea that the best practices of capture and slaughter offer better fish.
“I was used to having the best quality, but when I returned to Veracruz the task was not easy. It seemed incredible to me that you could get better fish in Mexico City than in Veracruz,” says Érik.
The search led him to deal directly with the fishermen and, through training and trial and error, to create a virtuous chain. He began to pay the blonde, the snapper, the villajaiba and the tuna at the same price as the red snapper (one of the most valued species) and convinced his clients that it was worth trying them. That was how a tuna toast came to his menu. “It was a super difficult stage in my career as a chef. Try to make the customer understand that all fish is badass. That the quality is in how it came to you, in the traceability”, says Erik.
The final step was to plant that idea among his colleagues. The idea? Consume what the sea gives. “Friends started asking me to send them ’20 kilos of fish.’ I told them yes, but that it was 20 kilos of a mixture of fish. They can arrive amberjack, cojones, mackerel, a cabrilla or a red snapper. You can get 200 little fish of 100 grams or an animal of 20 kilos”, he explains.
Today, the Nuestra Pesca project distributes these “fish mixes” to chefs from different parts of the country. On his list are tourist destinations such as Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, but also states in the center of the country far from the sea, where there is no fishing but there are avid consumers, such as Mexico City, San Luis Potosí or Querétaro.
A MIX OF FISH
The next time you find a fish on the menu, ask. The sea answers. This is a very brief accordion, courtesy of Nuestra Pesca, with some of the species mentioned.
NICE: Recommended for very fresh raw dishes or fried foods.
BLONDE: a fish with coral notes and a flavor that falls on the spectrum of sweetness due to the glucose content in its muscle tissue.
ROCKET: delicate flavors. To be consumed, preferably, raw.
VILLAJAIBA: It has better expression when cooked, preferably in a double-bottomed pan with a thin film of the oil of your choice. The recommendation is to keep the skin when cooking it because it browns very well.
MEDREGAL: the meat of this species has many uses: raw, cured, in ceviche or at the appropriate cooking point.