The fish section of El Corte Inglés in Genil, located in the center of Granada, will host a live ronqueo of a red almadraba tuna this Friday, July 11, at 12:00 p.m.
Ronqueo is the name given in seafaring jargon to the carving of the red almadraba tuna, as detailed by El Corte Inglés in a press release. This technique, like almadraba fishing, is a traditional art, a «millenary heritage of the first Phoenician settlers of the Cadiz lands.»
This practice is called ronqueo because of the sound produced by the knife during the carving, similar to a person’s snore. The master cutter is a great connoisseur of the tuna’s anatomy and must gather enough strength and skill to precisely separate the different pieces of this delicacy known as «the ham of the sea,» as everything is utilized.
The almadraba, from the Andalusian Arabic «place where one fights or struggles,» is a technique for capturing tuna that has been used since pre-Roman times. It involves setting up a labyrinth of nets in the path of the tunas, usually located near the coast.
The different usable parts of the tuna have the same names in seafaring jargon, given to them in the primitive almadrabas, such as the ijar, the tarantelo, the mormos, the parpatana, or the descargamento, and so on, up to 18 parts in which the tuna is carved through the art of ronqueo, which the people of Granada «will be able to enjoy live» this Friday at noon.
The result of this carving will be available both in the fish section of El Corte Inglés and in the cafeteria, which will offer from July 12 to 19 on its menu tartare with guacamole, grilled tuna with cauliflower puree, and tataki with green tapenade and soy sauce.