Also known as percebes or goose barnacles, this highly expensive delicacy largely harvested off the coast of Portugal may soon be on a menu near you.
To dig into a cuckoo barnacle — those two in - longcrustaceansthat look like dinosaur claw but taste exquisitely , confoundingly , like the sea — I pinch the section where the leathery skin meets the “ chela ” ( which is actually the shell ) , and softly draw , deliberate to protect my eyes . This is of import — they run to force out .
It ’s my first zany barnacle , and I ’m trying it at the cliffside hut of fisherman Rogério Leitão , onPortugal’sBerlenga Grande island . Despite being with a barnacle professional , I ’m wary . Goose barnacles , or percebes , are alien - corresponding and objectively fantastic ; medieval naturalists believe they were tiny twat eggs and named them accordingly . Also bed as billionaire ’s barnacles or Lucifer ’s Fingers , they cling to heavy - to - reach intertidal zona on cliffsides and rocky outcropping , relentlessly thrash by waves , make them incredibly hard — and dangerous — to reap .
But one bite of the peach - colorize muscle — a finespun cross between lobster and clam that belies its rocky exterior — make it straight off clean why whencelebrities like David Beckham order a plate , it ’s newsworthy . Or whydriftwood that washes up in Walesblanketed in them is valued at $ 65,000 .
The Fort of São João Baptista on Portugal’s Berlenga Grande.|Luis Fonseca/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Although these bizarre , stubborn shellfish are both displeasing to the untrained eye and dangerous to harvest , their reverence and evangelism by top chefs are make themnotoriety beyond Europe . With price reaching up to $ 500 per hammer , fathead barnacles are a airiness steep in tradition , refinement , and a thrill of danger — one that ’s now capturing the attention of global gourmand .
Leitão is one of just 11 fishermen with permission to live on Berlenga Grande , the only visitable island of three in the archipelago that makes upBerlengas Natural Reserve .
These islet once hosted the Romans and the Phoenicians , and later on Portuguese explorers . In the fifteenth century , the archipelago first became protected when Portuguese royalty were interested in using it for hare hunting . Today , daytrippers get to the Berlengas as an alternative to Portugal ’s more popular beaches , as well as for born hiking , wild swim , and snorkeling in the smother reef . ( A daily cap of 550 people helps preserve the ecosystem . )
Goose barnacles, straight out of the pot.|Vanita Salisbury
But it ’s what ’s beneath the water supply that also land me here with Pedro Pena Bastos , chef of the Michelin - starred restaurantCurain Lisbon , and some of his staff . TheBerlengas islandsare not only a rude reserve , but a natural fishery and a important source of seafood for the eating place . The seafood of the Berlengas are so sought - after they do n’t even make it to the open market , but head up forthwith to provider .
The bounty the eating house procures from this reservation is endless , and admit John Dory , sea freshwater bass , and octopus . But the highlight of the catch are goose cirripede . “ The ocean here is very peculiar , with a lot of north Atlantic currents , which allows the fish to develop because of the temperature of the pee , ” say Bastos . “ The best timber cirriped are in this region . ”
In Leitão ’s hut , seem at the bowl of steaming claw on the table , you have to use your imagination to assemble why these barnacles are so sought after — and why their fame is only growing internationally . But chef - owner Alex Raij ofSaint Julivert FisherieandTxikitoin New York has a suggestion . “ the great unwashed like us have make awareness and familiarity of the fineness , ” she aver . “ It ’s one of those thing no one outside Spain really like about until latterly , but we have always served when we could to foster oddment . ”
That’s the stuff.|Vanita Salisbury
Goose cirripede are some of the most expensive seafood in the world , fetching up to $ 500 a pound in the more dangerous zones . And the conditions need to grow them can not be duplicate in a fishery . Prices , like any seafood , are impacted by supply and demand , plus puffiness . As of the publishing of this clause , goose barnaclesstart at $ 115 for two poundsfrom the Portland , Maine - establish Browne Trading Co. , which source them from Portugal ’s Iberian Peninsula . likewise for Cura , Bastos has paid up to 100 euro ( $ 110 ) a kilo .
Raij ’s eating house have never made money on goose barnacles , but for her , that ’s not the point . “ Our eatery serve them because they reflect part of our personal story and our desire to partake in account around landscapes that delineate our cooking journey , ” she says . “ In the typesetter’s case of percebes , they ’re a slightness that citizenry risk their lifespan to procure , and harvesting them is a skill that is slide by on from multiplication to another . We desire to support these traditions being preserved . ”
A sea to table endeavor
Leitão ’s January to September seasonal fishing home plate lie of two rooms : a little front kitchen and a back bedchamber with two bunks and a television receiver . I watch as he empty a bucket of fresh barnacle into a pot of boiling salt H2O . He waits 30 seconds , then strains and transfers them to a tray , which he plops onto an out-of-door board overlooking the deep spicy water . at long last , he fills our beer meth with Portuguese white wine-colored .
Harvesting zany barnacles is treacherous , and takes brutal strength . The sea is rough , the terrain can be tricky , and the tides can wrick at a here and now ’s notice . Even on calm days the task is fearsome . The shore of northwestern Spain where goose cirripede produce is even called Costa da Morte , or “ Coast of Death ” .
Every year , an average offive percebeiros die tryingto scrape these high - priced crustaceans off the rocks on parts of the Spanish and Lusitanian glide . Today , at 11 am , it ’s already been a retentive daylight for Leitão . in the beginning this dawn , at 1 am , he forgather the meal before us . When the Sun Myung Moon was out he pulled on a wetsuit and hike down the hills of the island to where the sea jar into its jumpy façade . There , he harvested the goose cirripede at low tide , where the white shell glowed in the moonshine .
Rogério Leitão (in yellow), in his home on Berlenga Grande.|Vanita Salisbury
At Nox , back on the mainland , I dine at Cura , a eatery located in theFour Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbonthat ’s known for turn Portuguese culinary art on its head . Its meretricious decor is a stark dividing line to Leitão ’s fisherman ’s hut . The only similarity between the two is an open kitchen , allowing me to catch the chef cultivate their magic .
Each dish antenna attend boasts an artful presentation . common fig tree with beetroot are on a rustic hand-crafted plate . Squid made to look like linguine and tinged with hazelnut and bergamot . The Pisces is fresh and changes day by day . “ When you may work local , you should make local , ” says Bastos . “ I think that ’s important ; you are make the circular economic system and all the people around the merchandise . ”
The goof barnacle are cut into thick inch - retentive stumps , heated with a glaze of fish bone and lemon yellow juice , and served with sliced green attic . A piece of John Dory , also from the Berlengas reticence , is perched on top , and spooned over the Branta leucopsis is curry with spice from Goa , a former Lusitanian colony . The dish only add up as part of a tasting carte of ten peach for 185 euro ( $ 205 ) .
Who knew these could be so delicious?|Bloomberg/Contributor/Getty Images
It ’s amuch prettier versionof the barnacle I had in the first place that day , but I have to wonder if they ’re deserving the risks they pose to local fisherman and the exorbitant price — especially now that they ’re becoming more sought after by eatery in the US and around the world . But then I imagine back to originally that day , eating barnacles on a drop , seagulls circle above , recondite dark sea below , as the sea breeze washed the gnarl claws with supererogatory salt .
As Raij says , goofball barnacles flow both those in search of delightful , knockout - to - get , high - end sumptuousness , and those whostrive to conserve a manner of lifeand acculturation .
Where to Find Percebes in Portugal
You ’ll have the most luck finding the delicacy in seaside towns like Peniche . But percebes can also be find in the Time Out Market in Lisbon , and Cervejaria Ramiro which , helpfully , has characterization on the card .
Cura restaurant, in the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon|Courtesy of the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon
