Mackerel Madness – But Don’t Forget the Garfish

Everyone wants mackerel on the menu the moment it shows up – and fair enough. Few things scream summer quite like a shiny, striped mackerel on the cutting board.

We’re lucky to have mackerel around throughout the warmer months. In fact, it’s really only in November (and, well… November again), December, January, February, and March that we don’t get them from Danish fisheries.

But that doesn’t mean the quality is consistent all season – or that you have to put them on the menu the minute they touch Danish waters. We’ve got so many other great fish in our seas that deserve the spotlight.

Take garfish, for example. Is there seriously a tastier fish out there? The answer is “maybe” – but only because there are so many incredible options to choose from.

The Mackerel Are Feeding Up

Anyway, back to the mackerel. Spawning is over, and now we’re seeing them near the coast, fattening up on shrimp larvae, zooplankton, and young herring known as “sildinger.” These are small herring and sprat that swim in schools – perfect feeding grounds for hungry mackerel.

When we start getting mackerel from the pound nets, we know they’re into full feeding mode. Most of our mackerel comes from pound net fishermen in Skagen – where Troels Twilling and his father run the show. And they do it very well.

Early in the season, it’s not every day they land a catch – so yes, we can run out of pound net mackerel. On those days, we try to source net- or trolling-caught mackerel from Sweden. But some days in June, there simply aren’t any available from low-impact fisheries. And on those days, we don’t buy any. Trawl-caught mackerel? Not happening. BUM!

So you might have to wait a day. Luckily, in June, it’s rare to go two days without mackerel.

Mackerel definitely deserves the spotlight, and yes – now is a great time to feature it on the menu. But you could also wait a few weeks and add it later. After all, it’ll be around until October.

In the meantime, why not give some love to garfish? We’ll be saying goodbye to them at the end of the month – and we won’t see them again until next April.