Gianchetti (also bianchetti) are the

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine- ...

of the ''pesce azzurro''''pesce azzurro'' (‘blue fish’) is a term used in

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wave ...

to refer to a range of Mediterranean species (including

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

garfish The garfish (''Belone belone''), also known as the garpike or sea needle, is a pelagic, oceanodromous needlefish found in brackish and marine waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Black, and Baltic Seas. Description The ...

, mackerel,

sardines "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

sprat Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus '' Sprattus'' in the family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish ('' Clupeoides'', '' Clupeonella'', '' Corica'' ...

s, swordfish and

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...

) which generally have blue or blue-green coloured backs and silvery bellie

of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

(

sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the It ...

s and

, etc.), caught with special nets in the early months of the year. The relatively low catch means that the prices at market are rather high, even in comparison to other whitebait. Since the 1990s frozen gianchetti have also been available. A speciality of the

Ligurian cuisine Ligurian cuisine consists of dishes from the culinary tradition of Liguria, a region of northwestern Italy, which makes use of ingredients linked both to local production (such as preboggion, a mixture of wild herbs), an ...

, gianchetti are generally lightly boiled in salted water and served hot, dressed with oil and lemon juice; another classic approach is to make fritters of the fish together with an egg and flour batter; finally they may simply be dipped in flour and

deep fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norma ...

. The gianchetti of a red colour (''ruscetti'', ''rossetti'') are tougher and scaly to the palate: they are largely used to flavour fish-based sauces.

Notes

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Image:Le mani del pescatore.jpg, Image:Reti da pesca.jpg, Image:Gianchetti and poutine.jpg, {{center, The gianchetti. Cuisine of Liguria Fish dishes

See also

Notes

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