Mackerel: roasted, with sauce, grilled… Really delicious!

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Fishermen after having caught mackerel

Pointed head and big mouth. Thick and narrow body. Maximum length of 50 centimeters and top weight of one and a half kilo. Metallic greenish blue loin, with transverse black lines. Silver belly and five bony sharp points on both sides. What is this?

Belonging to the tuna family, experts call it Scomber japonicus. Ordinary mortals calls it mackerel –berdel, in Basque; verdel, caballa or sarda in Spanish; xarda in Galician-. It is caught, above all, during the spring months, when the mackerel shoals get near the coast.

During the fishing season, Gipuzkoa's village of Mutriku celebrates the Mackerel Day -Berdel Eguna-, in which thousands of people can taste it in eight different styles. This feast was born in order to promote the mackerel.

It has endless qualities, like a thick meat, its delicious taste, and the richness of Omega-3 Fatty acid –essential in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Anyway, it has not been appreciated and, during some time, fishermen were forced to take it back to the sea due to its low price. By means of pintxos (small portions of food), Mutriku shows us that this fish is delicious in any way.

The feast starts in the morning, with music in the streets and free mackerel pintxos in the bars. At noon, in the Zabiel Square, it's the turn of the sea rhythms.