Pompano and Ricciola are different fish, but they're close enough in the kitchen to stand in for one another.
Carangidae
Pompano
Florida pompano is one of the most prized pan fish in American coastal cuisine, with buttery, rich white flesh and very few bones. It commands premium prices at Gulf Coast and Florida Keys fish markets. In New Orleans, pompano en papillote — cooked in a sealed paper bag with a cream sauce — is a classic Creole dish. The same name, pámpano, is used across Latin America and the Caribbean. It is typically pan-fried or grilled whole, and its compact size makes it ideal for single-portion cooking.
Full guide →Carangidae
Ricciola
Ricciola is the greater amberjack — a fast, powerful Carangidae of the Mediterranean and warm Atlantic, and one of the few large fish that is genuinely excellent both raw and cooked. Italian kitchens treat it as a premium fish for carpaccio and crudo; Spanish ones, where it is pez limón, grill it in thick steaks or cure it. The flesh is pale, dense and clean-tasting with a high fat content along the belly, which is why the closely related Japanese species is the hamachi of sushi counters. Size matters more than with most fish: small specimens are mild and forgiving, while very large ones can carry parasites and are usually frozen before serving raw. It is farmed increasingly in Spain and Italy. Distinguish it from the various fish called jurel, which are its much smaller relatives in the same family.
Full guide →Both are Carangidae with rich white flesh, but at opposite scales — pompano is a small whole-cooking fish, amberjack a large one cut into steaks and loins.
| Country | Pompano | Ricciola |
|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Pompano | Greater amberjack |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Pompano | Greater amberjack |
| 🇫🇷France | Pompano | Sériole couronnée |
| 🇪🇸Spain | Pámpano | Pez limón |
| 🇦🇷Argentina | Pámpano | — |
| 🇲🇽Mexico | Pámpano | — |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Pampo | Charuteiro |
| 🇧🇷Brazil | Pampo | — |
| 🇮🇹Italy | Leccia stella | Ricciola |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Pompano | Bernsteinmakrele |
Browse every species in the atlas on the fish index, or identify one from a photo with Identify my cut.