Our Mackerels

Our tinned mackerel: a tasty, healthy treat! 

With la Belle-iloise tinned mackerel you have the guarantee of 90 years of traditional, small-scale production in Quiberon and an innovative, tasty recipe using some unexpected flavours. From season to season, we seek out the best ways to celebrate the nutritional benefits of this invaluable fish.   

The mackerel are fished as close as possible to our facilities, prepared fresh and cooked in a court-bouillon. Hand trimmed and tinned with the utmost care, our fillets offer extraordinary finesse and lightness. From the four great classics (mackerel fillets with mustard, tomato, olive oil, lemon and 5 peppercorns, and white wine with aromatic flavourings) to our more adventurous recipes (curry, red chilli), not forgetting the oil-free version, all of our mackerel fillets have wonderful flavours to tempt your tastebuds.   

The flavours of our flaked mackerel can take you on a journey to a dream destination as each recipe is inspired by the culinary speciality of a particular region. Set sail to the West Indies with the Boucaniers recipe, relax and kick back in Provence with the Escartefigue or turn round and head north for flaked mackerel with white beer. Or perhaps you’d prefer the Riviera and a view over the Menton lemon groves or a trip to Argoat in inland Brittany? Last but not least is the most exotic of all, with Grains of Paradise which transport you to a destination off the coast of Africa.     

Our canned mackerel is ready to eat but can also be used as a cooking ingredient. For example, our mackerel fillets with curry spices and almonds are delicious mixed with rice, spiced and reheated (a little secret shared by our CEO, Caroline Hilliet-Le Branchu). And our flaked mackerel will instantly pep up a refreshing summer salad. We suggest that the best way to explore the wide range of flavours on offer is to order an “assortment” which contains a variety of different mackerel fillet and flaked mackerel recipes.   

At aperitif time, our healthy mackerel spreads (mackerel rillettes with Brittany seaweed, mackerel spread with lime, chopped artichoke with mackerel) have been specially created to delight your guests and get the evening off to a great start.    

Looking for picnic or lunch ideas? You’ll love our mackerel with artichoke heart sandwich filling, ready-to-eat mackerel and Beluga lentil salad or delicious mackerel chilli hot meal.   

Finally, our ‘History of Mackerel’, an assortment of the best of our mackerel products in a splendid box designed by Concarneau artist Olivier Lapicque, makes a stylish gift.  

For some, mackerel has a bad reputation but others, like Alexandre Dumas, find it exceptional. In his Dictionary of Cuisine, he describes mackerel as “one of the most beautiful and courageous of fish”. He goes on to say: “When it is taken alive from the line to the boat, it seems made of azure, silver and gold.”   

The mackerel (Scomber scombrus), also nicknamed “the tiger of the seas”, is a silvery fish with black stripes, a white belly and bluish/green back. It is a long fish measuring 20 to 40 cm and weighing between 200 g and 700 g.   

Thanks to its extremely powerful caudal fin, or tail, and its aerodynamic shape, it never stops swimming. Because it has no swim bladder, it needs to keep moving so it doesn’t sink. And the older it gets, the faster it swims, reaching 32 km/h at full maturity.   

Mackerel mainly eat plankton but during the reproductive season they also feed on molluscs, young shellfish and small fish. They are great migrators, travelling in shoals through the North Atlantic, along the American and European coastlines, and also in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.  

All of our mackerel is fished in the North-East Atlantic, between the Celtic Sea and the North Sea. And thanks to our stringent standards and expertise, our canned mackerel retains all its protein goodness and generous texture.    

Preserving all its nutritional value, canned mackerel is rich in complete proteins, vitamins and minerals and Omega-3. 100g provides six times the recommended daily intake of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and three times that of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)! The latter two are essential fatty acids, beneficial nutrients at any age which can only be obtained from food.  

Plus, 100 g of mackerel provides three times our vitamin B12 requirement, 100% of the RDA of vitamin D and 41% of vitamin B3. These vitamins stimulate the metabolism, immune system and all the physiological and psychological functions simultaneously. Last but not least, mackerel is rich in iodine, phosphorus and selenium, sea minerals and antioxidants which are excellent for our day-to-day health.