Preparing for our upcoming trip, I've been reading some menus. We love fish, and would like to try some of the native lakefish if we see them on menus. I'm wondering if my understanding of these fish is correct:

Hecht = pike
Forellen = trout
Zander = "pike-perch" (walleye?)
Egli = perch
Felchen = fera---but what is fera? That is a fish I don't recognize.

Also saw Pangasius, which Wikipedia says is "iridescent shark", but actually a kind of catfish. That must be a farmed fish?

Mainly I'm curious about the Felchen/Fera. Can anyone describe this fish? Is it related to trout, or maybe a landlocked salmon?

The only ones I'm famiiar with are trout (obvious - and not icky farmed - but real and fresh caught) and pike-perch. Don;t know what the latter is. Just that you get lots of tiny little filets of white fish that are very delicate and delicious.

I found a notation in a journal from the spring of 2005, that I had tried the lake fish at the Old Swiss House (a very excellent place) in Lucerne and that I really liked it a lot. We (DH and I) also shared some of the wonderful white asparagus w/hollandaise that evening. Also very delicious!

Do try some lake fish.

We definitely intend to try the lake fish---it's just a question of which ones. We have had the trout in Switzerland, of course, but not the otheres.

Old Swiss House is the menu that has the Felchen/Fera. Maybe that is what you had there, Simpsonc510?

nytraveler---do you remember what the pike-perch was called in German? Or whatever language it was where you had it? It sounds very good!

Hi enzian,
While I'm not much for fish, while in Fussen, Germany my wife loved the Hecht (pike). She says it had a mild (not strong) "sweet" taste and was a fillet. Enjoy your trip! Hopefully you can tell us all about it when you return.

Paul

Hi E,

>do you remember what the pike-perch was called in German? <

Zander

PS

Fera is a salmon-like lakefish

Zander is very similar to walleye, but it is not exactly the same fish. The taste is not all that different.

Ira---I found references to fera as "salmon-like", but can't figure out what that means. Landlocked salmon? Lake trout? I guess I should try and find the Latin name and classification.

Fera is not salmon; I believe it is a fish unique to Switzerland and thus has no exact translation in English.

What I have had at lakeside restaurants in the Vevey/Montreux area is perch (i.e., filet de perch). When I asked what type of fish it was they just said "lake fish"!!

Perch - Perche ("fillets de perche" is the most common dish in Lac Léman area and most elsewhere nearby ) are today imported mostly from Poland, even if they may say it comes from le Lac Léman. Those who defend polish perche say they tastes the same or even better.

OK, through the wonders of Google I think I have figured it out. The fera is one of several species of the genus Coregonus, probably Coregonus lavaratus. Here is a photo of one in the Bodensee:

http://tinyurl.com/yodlgh

It is Felchen in Deutsch; fera in French; lavarello in Italian, and "whitefish" in English.

There is also a Coregonus fera, which Wikipedia and other sources say is extinct; yet other websites refer to raising this species in hatcheries.

The genus Coregonus is in the Salmonid family, which explains why they are described as "salmon-like". The same fish in Wales, however, is described as a "land-locked herring".

Whatever it is called, it sounds like the one we will want to try!

kappa---interestingly, many of the references I found in my search for these European fish referred to Poland; either fishing in Poland or aquaculture. It appears this is a thriving industry there. I also noticed that many Swiss menus identify the source of their beef, lamb, chicken, etc. . . . but not the lakefish. One is supposed to assume the fish comes from the lake you are sitting by while having your dinner, but perhaps it does not.