Bluefin tuna morrillo in olive oil. This prized cut of the tuna is buttery and tender, and comes from the neck of the tuna. The wild bluefin tuna is caught off the Andalusian coast using almadraba traps, a 3,000-year-old artisanal fishing technique.
Serving tip: keep it simple and smoosh on buttered toast to enjoy all of the morrillo's rich flavour.
About the cut: a highly prized cut from behind the head of the tuna. It has a similar fat content to the ventresca - meaning it too is high in omega 3 - but the morrillo has a slightly firmer texture.
About the Bluefin tuna: the tuna is caught using almadraba traps, a three-thousand year old technique that relies solely on a maze of fixed nets, anchors, ropes and boats. The bluefin tuna is harvested sustainably: around 1% of the tuna that passes through the Strait is caught, and smaller tuna, which have yet to reproduce, are able to swim through the holes in the nets. The almadraba traps are set up from April to June, the time when the tuna pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Towns along this stretch of the Costa de la Luz, including Barbate, hold festivals in May to celebrate the arrival of the tuna and this ancient tradition.
About the cannery: artisanal cannery Herpac is a family business, founded in 1986 by brothers Francisco and Diego Pacheco. Herpac is a portmanteau word, a blend of hermanos (brothers) and Pacheco. It began life as a small shop in the Andalusian fishing town of Barbate, specialising in mojama, tuna that is salted and air-dried in the sun. Today it employs 120 people, the vast majority of whom live in Barbate, and is lead by the third generation of the Pacheco family. It continues its mission to introduce the richness of the Barbate sea to tables outside Spain.
