Perch and Butter: Garda Cuisine’s Culinary Tradition and Revival
Fish, oil, and wine: these are the treasures of the Garda pantry. And some would always like them to be paired at the table: fish cooked with extravirgin olive oil from the riviera and washed down with wines from the lake. Well, purists should know that it’s not always the case. They might even be appalled, but perch on Lake Benaco is cooked in butter; some say this is a diktat. So much so that fillets of perch fried in butter are considered a true delicacy by Gardesani fishermen.
A tradition also widespread in other lakes
It’s not just an heresy exclusive to Lake Garda: butter is used to fry perch fillets in all the major northern lakes. On Verbano and Lario, buttered fillets are sometimes added to risotto as well. And the two Lombard lakes dispute the paternity of this risotto.
The péss pèrsech, as it is called on Garda, has a brown back, greenish or yellowish sides with black transverse bands (hence some call it zebra), and a white belly. The fins are red or orange, with the first fin bearing a black spot. It lives in schools, staying near aquatic plants or rocks.
It is not a strictly traditional fish of Lake Garda. But among the fish species introduced, it is one that boasts the longest residence. According to Enzo Oppi, the perch might even have been the second species — right after the bottatrice introduced in 1876 — to establish itself in Lake Garda.
It is believed that this was due to initial seeding efforts in 1880 that yielded little results. Only from 1929 does the perch appear with some regularity. The new introduction would be traced back to some Trentino ponds descending into the lake.
Nonetheless, the royal perch, since “it offers delicate, white, and flavorful flesh under the thick skin that protects it,” as Oppi, the late Gardesani ichthyologist, put it, “has become very appreciated by all fishermen.” They fillet the fish and cook it in butter.
The preparation involves mixing breadcrumbs and flour, beating an egg with a little water and salt, then passing the fillets first in the egg, then in the breadcrumb and flour mixture, pressing them well. Then they sauté the fillets on both sides, let them dry on absorbent paper, and serve them immediately, piping hot.
Perhaps lightly flavored with a bit of thyme. When some restaurants serve these delicious fish fillets, they are snapped up quickly. And fortunately, there has been some return of perch in Garda waters after years of scarcity that plagued gastronomes.
They consider buttered perch fillets to be one of the monuments of Garda cuisine.
