Sat 13 Jun 2009
The Tambaqui
Posted by Ken Atherton under brazil
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One of the most interesting things I did on my recent trip to Brazil was to order this for dinner at a restaurant in São José dos Campos:
The main dish on this plate is a fish called a “tambaqui”. The long piece is a section of the fishes ribs. The dish has an excellent flavor — the fish has a light taste, and is slightly sweet. The texture is similar to salmon. The fish also seems to have a fair amount of natural fat, so while the dish was broiled, the fish was more or less fried in it’s own juices.
As you can see from the picture, the fish that those ribs came from must be very large. Apparently, 40 to 50 pound specimens are not unusual.
The tambaqui (also known as the pacu) grows in the Amazon and is a member of the piranha family. Unlike its more famous (and more terrifying) cousins, the tambaqui has a vegetarian diet, eating both fruits that grow on plants in the water and fruits that fall into the river. The fish does have some large, very human-looking teeth that it uses to crush its “prey.”
A Google search reveals that the tambaqui is a popular catch with amateur fisherman who trek to the Amazon. This has led to some concerns about overfishing, but it also appears that the fish can be successfully raised commercially.
There are some good pictures of the tambaqui here and here.
