Tim Maddams

Head chef of the River Cottage canteen in Axminster

May I say how great and refreshing I find Fish4Evers dedication to sustainable fishing, for years now I have been slightly disturbed by the idea of Dolphin friendly tuna. Whilst this is obviously a good thing I have always felt it didn’t go far enough. What about the tuna? Obviously tinned tuna can’t be entirely “Tuna friendly” yet as you have proven we can have “nongenocide” tuna, and it tastes great, and doesn’t leave a sour taste on the conscience either. We all need to be more careful with our already depleted fish stocks worldwide, which is why I only use local, day netted or line caught fresh fish, most of which comes straight from the fishermen at Axmouth. Ok, on to the products themselves. Yellow fin tuna in organic sunflower oil Fantastic, a very true flavour of tuna, complimented by the delicate and light oil, a nice piece of fish too I really like the lack of salt which allows the quality of the fish to shine through. Great for cooking but it seems a waste. Better used simply, maybe in a salad, with a little Cornish sea salt and some apple balsamic vinegar. Albacore in organic sunflower oil Wow, again not over salted as tinned fish has a tendency to be. Really great texture and flavour, it almost tastes fresh. This one would be really great with cold roast pork, capers, tomatoes and anchovies in the Italian style. I feel it is too good to cook in a more complex way as it tastes so fresh and clean it would be a shame to lose these qualities. A revelation. SkipJack tuna chunks in brine. Now, this is the one to cook with, great in pasta and surprisingly not salty for fish in a brine. How do you do it? I would happily use this with pasta; it would be great with garlic, chilli, onions and basil, or with a drop of good olive oil.