Cold water,
clean hands.
Landed on the same skerries the boats came back to, packed in ice and sent south the same day.
See the catchWhat comes off the reef
Sorted by how the fish is handled, not by what it costs.
ReadWhole fish, gilled and gutted at the quay. Two kilos to a box.
Catch
ReadLobster and prawns, frozen raw so the cooking stays yours.
Catch
ReadShellfish kept on ice from the tank to the box.
Catch
ReadCold smoked over birch, sliced and ready to serve.
Out of water Ice Grading Boxing
Reine
Narrow water between the peaks. Cod and haddock come up here into small boats, and the drying racks stand right behind the houses.
Gutted at sea, then racked or boxed.
Hamnoy
A longer reach into open water. The catch lands in the morning and is iced before the boats are tied.
Iced on the quay, graded by size.
Sorvagen
Sandier shelf, gentler ground. Best for shellfish and flat fish, worked by hand at low tide.
Rinsed in clean water, packed on salt.
Cold water grows fish slowly, and slow growth packs the flesh tighter.
When the fjord wind drops, the catch comes up steady.
The shorter the run from water to freezer, the more of the sweetness survives.
The red house is not scenery. It is the first warm place the catch reaches.
Deep fish keep their freshness in the cold, not in the display.
Lofoten cold is not a temperature. It is a way of keeping things.
Hung up to be seen
On the railShucked on the same day the live oysters are
Catch
On the railHand-selected live sea snails, cleaned and processed so they
Catch
On the railWhole scallops kept in their original shells, with the
Catch
On the railWhole raw prawns with the distinctive striped shell that
Catch
On the railExtra-large spiny lobsters with a vivid, colourful shell that
Catch
On the railSelected from a fresh catch and frozen quickly to
Catch
On the railBright orange-pink flesh with natural fat striations running through
Catch
On the railClams with plump, full flesh, cleaned and processed so
Two kilo lots, priced by the kilo.
Every box is weighed and marked before it leaves.
Packed to order, not taken from a shelf.
Standing in the tide line
Six layers from fjord to box
Pick a line
One float to a group. Each opens its own collection.
Whole Fish
1 item
Lobster & Prawns
2 items
Shellfish
3 items
Smoked & Cured
1 item
Live & Fresh
1 item
Reef Selection
3 items
Cold Water Catch
3 items
The Full Hold
8 items
Floats marked by hand, same shape since the sixties
The week's catch, once a week
What came in, what is left, and what is coming next.
One email a week, unsubscribe any time