$ · lifting and turning delicate fish fillets
Turn a fillet without it falling apart
Sliding beneath fillets and turning them with less tearing than a thick spatula.
OXO Good Grips Little Fish Turner
Peixe-espada-preto in English is Black scabbardfish. It belongs to the Trichiuridae family; the names below show how the same fish is sold across international markets.
Also called
🇺🇸🇬🇧Black scabbardfish🇫🇷Sabre noir🇪🇸Sable negro🇮🇹Pesce sciabola nero🇩🇪Schwarzer Degenfisch
Peixe-espada-preto is the black scabbardfish — a long, ribbon-thin, jet-black deep-water fish with enormous eyes and teeth, caught on longlines set 800 to 1,200 metres down off Madeira and the Azores. It looks alarming and tastes nothing like it looks: the flesh is white, soft, almost boneless and very mild, closer to a delicate white fish than to anything oily. In Madeira it is the local dish, espada com banana, fried in a light coating and served with fried banana and passionfruit, a combination that sounds implausible and works. It is also common in Lisbon fish markets. The name causes constant confusion in Portuguese: peixe-espada is not espadarte. Espadarte is swordfish — a large, meaty, steak-cut pelagic fish grilled like tuna — while this is a soft-fleshed deep-sea fish usually sold as thin fillets. They are not substitutes for one another.
Names by country
| Country | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Black scabbardfish | |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Black scabbardfish | Longlined at 800–1,200 m off Madeira and the Azores |
| 🇫🇷France | Sabre noir | |
| 🇪🇸Spain | Sable negro | |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Peixe-espada-pretoprimary | Not espadarte (swordfish) — a persistent confusion; this is a soft-fleshed deep-sea fish |
| 🇮🇹Italy | Pesce sciabola nero | |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Schwarzer Degenfisch |
Culinary substitutes
Often confused with
Handling fish at home
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