Gopes

Chronia Polla and Kali Sarakosti. Today the Lent started and I past safely the whole day without animal fat and protein. It was amazing every street was filled with the smell of grilled octopus, squids and prawns.

So, as you can see, the following is a slightly old story.

I bought a kilo of fish called gopes (gopa in singular) from laiki market.



I paid 2 euros, but you can even find it for 1 euro. It is actually one of the cheapest fish in the market and you don't find it in up-market restaurants. According to this website, English name for gopa is bogue and according to this one, it is boop.

These are about 10-15 cm long. If bigger, it gets more expensive, but it is still around 3-4 euros a kilo.

I have never seen these fish either in Japan or in UK and it was the first time I cooked it. As they were quite small, I decided to deep-fry after having removed guts and heads. The fish itself was fresh without doubt, but they did not smell entirely pleasant, which led me to think that they lived in not particularly clean water. Apart from the smell, they tasted fine and tasted even nicer when marinated in vinegar. However, I am now sceptical about the living environment of this fish and will be very reluctant to buy it again.