Another Perch Photo

[Ouse Wanderer]

The BBC is running a series called 'Searching for Italy' in which the actor Stanley Tucci travels around the regions of the country and attempts to show their essence in light of their food. In episode 4 'Milan' he visits Lombardy. Towards the end of the programme he goes to Lake Como and is taken fishing for perch by a local angler and food lover. Back in the kitchen we are shown in some detail how to cook 'Riso con Pesce Pecorino' or Rice with Perch to thee and me. It's all on Iplayer and the Lake Como bit starts at about 30:00.
On another matter do I remember rightly Mr. Crabtree recommending a perch of about 2lb. as just the right size for the pot! I would have to be literally starving before I could bring myself to bonk a 2lb. perch (deep hooked/dying fish being excepted as noted above). I've nothing against it in theory but in practise I think it would give me bad dreams.

[Catfish.017]

Good sized Perch are the very devil to descale. It's better to cook them whole (maybe En Papillote) and peel the skin off afterwards.

[Liphook]

A long time ago we would occasionally fillet and skin perch and cook them on the islands of Windermere. Fried in leftover bacon fat they were delicious.