Half a ton of Skrei. Just three months—from ear­ly January until Easter—the sea­son for Skrei lasts. Only during this time and only in a defi­ned fishing area off the Lofoten Islands in Norway may the fish be caught during their migra­ti­on to recei­ve the Skrei label. „Outside that area, it’s just ordi­na­ry cod,“ says Luca Bianchi. At the long-estab­lished deli­ca­tes­sen pur­vey­or, star chefs like Patrick Mahler order this spe­cial fish during the brief sea­son. „Winter cod may only be cal­led Skrei if it comes from Norway and is caught the­re with longli­ne or hand line, bled imme­dia­te­ly on board, and clea­ned with sea­wa­ter. The fish must reach land within four hours wit­hout the cold chain being inter­rupt­ed,“ says Bianchi. Only the finest spe­ci­mens ulti­m­ate­ly recei­ve the „Skrei“ label on the fin in cer­ti­fi­ed ope­ra­ti­ons. Bianchi has orde­red half a ton at a time.

Patrick Mahler, the sea­son for Skrei—lasting just three months—is now begin­ning. What distin­gu­is­hes Norwegian win­ter cod in your view?
The cha­rac­ter of the fle­sh and the aro­ma of this fish are very acces­si­ble and plea­sant to eat, becau­se it has a beau­tiful struc­tu­re and, with the right coo­king method, almost falls apart into indi­vi­du­al flakes. That sets it apart from all other fish.

How can you tell the dif­fe­rence bet­ween Skrei and cod?
Skrei is smal­ler and finer, and it seems to me the fle­sh is some­what whiter. But the dif­fe­rence in fla­vor is small. Both fish have a cer­tain sweet­ness that almost recalls scal­lops. Skrei, howe­ver, is my per­so­nal favo­ri­te. Ever sin­ce I took my first head-chef posi­ti­on at the Park Hotel Vitznau about ten years ago, this fish has been on my menu, and we ser­ve it when­ever Skrei sea­son arrives.

Skrei is also a rigo­rous­ly tested qua­li­ty seal—do you pay atten­ti­on to such certifications?
Of cour­se we look at such cri­te­ria; this is beco­ming incre­a­sing­ly important. We regu­lar­ly exch­an­ge infor­ma­ti­on with sup­pliers like Bianchi about it. Skrei, for exam­p­le, is dif­fi­cult to catch becau­se the boats must tra­vel far out to sea. Only fish caught off the Lofoten Islands recei­ve the Skrei label. That is some­thing quite special.

You poin­ted out the excep­tio­nal tex­tu­re of the fish. Which coo­king method do you pre­fer to high­light that?
We first dry-cure the fish with salt and sugar, then roll it tight­ly in pla­stic wrap so it takes on a beau­tiful shape. Before pla­ting, this „fish roll“ is cut into por­ti­ons and gent­ly coo­ked con­fit in fat. I use nut but­ter, neu­tral gra­pe­seed oil, or rape­seed oil for this. It’s important that the oil does­n’t have too strong a fla­vor of its own or too inten­se a color, other­wi­se both trans­fer to the fish. Steaming in a steam­er at 62 degrees has pro­ven to be the ide­al coo­king method. After 8 to 12 minutes—depending on the size of the pieces—the Skrei is per­fect­ly coo­ked to a glas­sy finish.

What mista­ke should one avo­id when pre­pa­ring it?
Cod-fami­ly fish are gene­ral­ly not so deli­ca­te; in Nordic count­ries they’­re often ser­ved hea­vi­ly roa­sted and still taste good. I pre­fer gent­le coo­king methods like poa­ching or steam­ing, though—that brings out the subt­le fla­vors better.

Do you use who­le fish or fillets?
That depends on how much we have to do at the moment, but usual­ly I buy fil­lets. Cod is not so easy to break down. And at Bianchi, abso­lu­te spe­cia­lists work in this area who can do it much bet­ter and faster than I can. The fish are fil­le­ted in the mor­ning and are in our cold sto­rage four hours later.

What pairs well with Skrei in terms of fla­vor, and what does­n’t work at all?
Now we come to per­haps the grea­test advan­ta­ge of this fish—a gre­at deal pairs with it: We’ve alre­a­dy com­bi­ned Skrei with a roa­sted-oni­on stock, white and black truff­le, or a pre­ser­ved-lemon chi­michur­ri. Even ear­thy notes from morels or shell­fi­sh ele­ments like a bis­que with vadou­van or mus­sels pair well with it. Some fish need a rich sau­ce or a vin­ai­gret­te; with Skrei, even a clear, light broth works—say, a fish dashi.

Herbs, vege­ta­bles, capers, or olives—what else can be com­bi­ned with it?
Here, too, the ran­ge is wide. I like a bit of cavi­ar with it, or small mus­sels, espe­ci­al­ly when the sau­ce has a cer­tain aci­di­ty. I com­bi­ne vege­ta­bles more in a sup­port­ing role with fish, not as a visual­ly pro­mi­nent ele­ment. The aro­ma of cele­ry or spin­ach pairs well with Skrei, but we’­ve also used a broc­co­li emulsion.

» Patrick Mahler (42) has been head chef at Restaurant Focus Atelier in the Park Hotel Vitznau sin­ce 2018, whe­re he has work­ed sin­ce 2013. He is a mem­ber of Les Grandes Tables de Suisse, and his work is reco­gni­zed with 18 GaultMillau points and two Michelin stars. The Focus team is going on tour soon: with appear­an­ces at Palais Coburg in Vienna from January 24 to February 2, 2025, and at Suvretta House St. Moritz from February 26 to March 2, 2025.