Wise King of the Sea

The amberjack is one of the great lords of the Mediterranean Sea. A solitary rockfish that lives hidden in caves and deep crevices. Fishermen have always spoken of it with a certain reverence: it is not just any fish, but a patient, powerful, and cunning inhabitant of the sea that knows its territory and is only deceived if the sea allows it. In ancient times, it was believed that old specimens, those that no one had ever caught, knew all the secrets of the sea and could hide or change location as if they had thoughts. Therefore, when a fisherman found a large one, there was often a mixture of respect and superstition.

In the Balearic Islands, it has always been considered a prized fish, both for its size and its behavior. It rarely exceeds 100 cm in length, although specimens up to 150 cm and 60 kg have been observed. It lives on rocky and algae-covered bottoms, associated with reefs. Younger individuals are found at shallower depths and closer to the coast. It is a hermaphroditic species that reaches sexual maturity as a female at five years of age and becomes a male around ten years old, although some females remain so for a few more years.

A culinary treasure

In the kitchen, the amfo is a culinary treasure. Its firm, white, almost gelatinous flesh has a clean and deep flavor. In fishing households, it was the fish savored on holidays, so eating it was a celebratory act. Like other large rockfish, the amfo was used whole: the loin for main dishes, and the head or bones for broths and stews. In the book of Sent Soví (14th century), it is recommended to fry it and serve it with vinegar or peppers, a sauce that was almost always served with game. In Menorca, the first written references appear in the 18th century. Caulas Recipe BookThe four recipes in the manuscript testify to the affection people had for this fish, which was cooked in slices, fried or grilled, wrapped in paper and usually finished cooking in juice. Two of these dishes, amfo with fat and amfo with gravel sauce, would later be included by Pere Ballester in De re Cibaria (1923). The first Mallorcan recipes followed very similar cooking methods, since both the anfuso in wine sauce and the anfuso of Llabrés Recipe Book (XIX), they are first sautéed and then simmered in wine or water. The firm texture of its tail allows it to be cooked without fear of it falling apart, so it will be very suitable for eating in a casserole or stew. It is also very traditional to bake it in the oven with vegetables on a bed of potatoes or also stuffed: very laborious and interesting recipes, such as the oven-baked amfo that Antoni Tugores includes in Sóller (A memory of Mallorcan cuisine(2004) where the fish is boneless and opened like a book. Some of the flesh is scooped out and mixed with boiled egg, shrimp, toasted peppercorns, raisins, and aromatic herbs. This mixture is used to fill one side of the fish, close it with the other side, seal it firmly, cover it with vegetables, and roast it in the oven. Before it finishes cooking, some of the vegetables are mixed with mayonnaise, spread over the fish, and it finishes roasting. A reverse example would be cochineal with anfos, a dish that has gained much popularity in recent years. In this case, the fish is wrapped or covered by the cochineal, so the juices from the meat prevent it from drying out.

Our fish of today has suffered greatly in recent years, and fishing is quite restricted and controlled. This means that the few specimens that reach the top of the register command a high price, making it difficult to experiment much in the kitchen. For today's recipe, I started with amfo (a type of fish) with Menorcan greve sauce, a winning combination I highly recommend.