For 4 people: 800 g sturgeon fillet, 2 tubes anchovy fillets, 2 carrots, 2 onions, ½ celery bulb, 150 g butter, 2 large beef tomatoes (skinned, seeded, diced), 50 g mushrooms, finely chopped; 4 large, firm boiling potatoes, 0.1 l dry white wine, 2 slices, de-crusted, crumbled white bread, salt and pepper.
Cut the carrots, onions and celery into fine strips ("Juliennes") and saute in half the butter in an ovenproof pan (large enough to hold the fish fillets side by side) until soft, adding salt and pepper. Poke small holes in the sturgeon fillets with a pointed knife and lard with the drained, halved anchovy fillets. Place on the bed of vegetables, mix the diced tomatoes and chopped mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cover the fillets with it. Peel and dice the potatoes and boil them in salted water until half done. Drain and spread around the fillets. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Pour the wine, and pour the remaining butter in pieces over the fish. Cook the fish for about 40 minutes, basting frequently. Lastly, sprinkle with the bread crumbs, cook until lightly browned, and serve.
Easily digestible and full of flavor: Sturgeon
Hesse's largest fish farm (and, with more than twenty species, also the largest in western Germany) is located on the Stählers' 300-year-old farm near Hadamar in the Westerwald. The ponds are fed by the cool waters of the Elbe River, and son Georg runs another large facility in Saxony; in all, the family business has 400 acres of ponds.
From eels to pikeperch, live fish are available here, including sturgeon; various species, all sizes, price on request. You pay less for fish already slaughtered and gutted, and it's easy to save the money, since sturgeon have no bones, only vertebral processes that make filleting easy for even the most inexperienced. Sturgeon could therefore become a popular fish. But it wasn't always, on the contrary.
Before World War I, writes Alfred Walterspiel, there was no more expensive fish than sterlet, the smallest of the sturgeons. Even in Moscow, he says, it was almost worth its weight in gold, and a companion was specially given to the exclusive fish that were transported alive. Here, mind you, we are talking about fish, not caviar, the precious eggs of the sturgeon. Stähler is significantly and successfully involved in securing and expanding the stocks (and thus the caviar). Not only does he hold numerous patents relating to fish farming in many countries of the world and grants a large number of licences, but the only spawning stock of beluga sturgeon outside Russia is also located in Niederzeuzheim. Talks are underway with Iran. The largest of the spawning fish weigh up to eighty kilograms and grow up to two meters long.
The impressive animals rarely make an appearance in their ponds. You have to be lucky to see one of the slender fish, unchanged in shape since time immemorial, pass majestically by. Sturgeons are predators, but they have quite small mouths, so they can only consume fish that are no more than five to ten percent of their own size. They therefore stick more to bottom-dwelling animals such as snails and clams; in fish farming, they eat precisely dosed food.
As a result, sturgeon are characterized by easily digestible meat with a subtle flavor, yet they have enough fat to make a downright delicacy when smoked. A whole, smoked sturgeon also makes a hell of an impression on the cold buffet. The market leader recently grilled sturgeon chops and the guests were delighted - who has ever heard of such a thing? Sturgeon à la Brimont, on the other hand, is much more festive: a fine hybrid between stew and fish casserole.
Westerwälder Fischzucht
Wolfram and Theo Stähler
Mühlenhof (outside, direction Oberzeuzheim)
65589 Hadamar-Niederzeuzheim (near Limburg/Lahn)
Tel.: 06433-2068 or 93000, Fax: 5960
Internet: <link http: www.westerwaelder-fischzucht-staehler.de _blank>www.westerwaelder-fischzucht-staehler.de
from Waldemar Thomas