I had never heard of Burbot until I had burbot for lunch at the restaurant at Mari's school.
February is burbot season in Finland. I like to lurk around the people selling kala (fish) because I found the variety of fish fascinating. The face on this guy was too good to resist. While I was snapping this head shot an older couple bought a huge burbot. I had to resist the urge to question them on how they were going to prepare that beast.
Burbots are known to have large livers and the burbot liver is a delicacy as well. According to the Wikipedia entry on burbot a druggist/furrier raising foxes in Minnesota was feeding the foxes burbot and the fox fur was markedly better than that of other foxes. They sent off some burbot oil for testing and it was found to have 4-10 times more Vitamin A than cod liver oil. Being smart entrepreneurs they founded the Burbot Liver Products Company. Sounds like the elixir of life!
Here is another web site with information on the burbot: Hunting and Fishing in Finland.
PS: If you are looking for burbot on the menu it is paistettua madetta (pan-fried burbot).
I love that the word for fish is so short and easy to remember. The shortest Swedish word I know is o (with umlaut) - means island, of which of course Sweden has many. The second shortest I know is ol (with umlaut) - means beer!
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