Line-caught hake loin, preserved in olive oil. The small team at family-run Cantabrian cannery Alalunga cook the hake carefully and precisely, in order to make the most of the delicate flavour and texture of this delicate white fish.
Recipe tip: sautée some finely diced chilli and crushed garlic in olive oil, throw in some chopped parsley, add the hake and serve with linguine. Squeeze over some lemon, and garnish with more fresh parsley.
About the cannery:
Alalunga is based in Cantabria and was founded by brothers Alvaro and Pablo Huidobro in 2017. The name is part of the albacore tuna's scientific name: Thunnus Alalunga. The brothers hail from a family of foodies and their knack for cooking, they say, is instinctive, honed on the many family trips to Cantabrian restaurants they took as children, and their grandmother's cooking.
The quality of the Alalunga range is down to a number of factors. Here are three:
Cooking methods that are novel in the canning industry. The brothers use the sous vide technique where fragile white fish like hake and sea bass are sealed inside a vacuum pack and cooked in a water bath at a carefully regulated temperature. This preserves the delicate flavours and texture of the fish.
Precisely timed recipes. The pair down kitchen tools just before the cooking is complete, and let the steam ovens where the sterilisation process occurs, finish the work and bring the recipes to fruition.
And most importantly, the highest grade raw materials available are used. Seasonally caught cuttlefish, this line-caught hake from the Cantabrian Sea, premium sea bass farmed off the Canaries that is earmarked for Michelin starred restaurants and one cannery: Alalunga.
