From Giordano Palazzo's vision, the Marche-based company has become one of the leaders in the Italian seafood market, conquering the restaurant and large-scale retail trade with excellent products such as the "Millesimato" salmon made in collaboration with Veuve Clicquot.
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The story
Behind a great company often lies a visionary entrepreneur, who had the foresight and tenacity to believe in his or her project. And that's exactly what happened with La Nef, a Marche-based company started in 1989 by Giordano Palazzo. “In the 1980s, I had a delicatessen-wine shop in Osimo, near Ancona,” the founder says. ” Then I decided to sell the business, and after a series of adventures I started stocking smoked salmon, to be sold locally, in a small cold storage room in my father-in-law's garage.
In more than 30 years of history, the Ancona-based company-now led together with its son Nico and a young, creative and competent team-has become dynamic and solid. It is considered among the best when it comes to the distribution and selection of seafood products, with an average annual sale of 2,500 tons of salmon (and a projected turnover of 70 million euros by 2024), and thanks to the Coda Nera brand, created in 2012, it has become known throughout the country for the amazing quality of its catch. “I have always been passionate about food, and this is perhaps what has distinguished La Nef ,” Giordano continues. “ I was lucky enough to understand before others what was going to happen to the salmon market in Italy: we have managed to create exclusive partnerships over time and a serious and competent supply chain of trust that gives us great satisfaction.
Compared to other competitors, La Nef has managed to conquer both the restaurant market-with products from the Mosaic line present in various delicatessens, stores, and restaurants throughout Italy-and the large-scale retail market, such as its recent debut in Esselunga's refrigerated counters. “Our salmon is perceived as a product that tastes better than others, a premium brand that people are willing to buy at the right price,", explains Giordano, who by the end of 2024 will debut Coda Nera Millesimato salmon, a line designed for collaboration with Veuve Clicquot Champagnes. “It will be available only for this special partnership ,” Giordano concludes: "we will make a selection of the best qualities in the farm, but it is something that is feasible only in certain years, when there are harsh winters that allow the fish to have a very low fat content.
The products of the Coda Nera Mosaico Food Experience line.
This selection was born in 2023, with the aim of becoming a reference point for the most attentive catering. A portfolio that encompasses the various “gastronomic adventures” that have made La Nef a benchmark for salmon (and more), thanks to Giordano Palazzo's vision of being among the first to talk about dark meat, fat, and moisture, all key characteristics for recognizing a salmon of excellence.
The Coda Nera brand is distinguished by three different quality grades: Classico, Riserva and Gran Riserva. The difference? In addition to the size of the fish, Classic boasts soft flesh and a beautiful vibrant color; Riserva is raised in spacious, sustainable tanks in the northernmost waters of Norway (in the Skyervøy area), where strong Atlantic currents and low water temperatures allow the fish to grow very slowly. Finally, the Grand Reserve, also from the sea that washes the Norwegian island, is differentiated by its superior quality.
What the three types have in common is that they are processed and smoked along the Baltic coasts of Lithuania, a country that has a long tradition in this regard, since local fishermen used to catch salmon for the Tsars of Russia. These artisans process the salmon using the ancient method at La Ficelle-hanging by the tail-over a wood fire for the Classico, while the Riserva and Gran Riserva with a wood fire. Otherwise, for lovers of a more intense flavor, wild salmon is selected from Alaska, while the Mizu line is one of La Nef's latest additions: a fresh “Prerigor” salmon suitable for the Japanese market, which is always looking for fattier meat to use in sushi. The supplier? A company from the Faroe Islands.
Mosaico product tastings
In addition to Coda Nera salmon, the Mosaico Food Experience line includes other brands such as pre-cooked Mizu octopus-caught in Morocco since it is considered the best variety in the world-, Le Grand Blanc wild cod-sourced from Iceland is processed by the only Portuguese company that still dry-soaks it after rigorous maturation-and Cantabrian Reserva anchovies, processed in Spain by the Iberian Peninsula's main supplier who manually plugs the anchovies, which differ from ordinary anchovies in body and maturation, with aging periods of up to two years in barrels under controlled temperature and humidity.
Superior quality products that chef Michele Antonelli of GastroBi (Loreto) interpreted excellently in the tasting that took place in La Nef's kitchen. If the Pizza fritta al lievito sourdough with zucchini guacamole and Cantabrian Reserva anchovies highlights the texture and the right saltiness of the anchovies, the Calamarata mantecata with sour butter, lemon thyme, Le Grand Blanc cod and capers convinces without hesitation both for the execution of the dish, elegant and well-calibrated, and for the use of the cod, the absolute protagonist.
Errico Recanati, chef of the one-Michelin-starred Andreina di Loreto restaurant-specializing in ancestral cooking and the use of charcoal-also captured the essence of the Mosaic line with mouthwatering and entertaining recipes in the welcome drink that preceded an equally satisfying dinner. Case in point? The Burnt Octopus and Prunes, in which the hints of smoke are satisfying, the Battered Cod Cheeks and Squash Blossoms, tender and flavorful, or the Sour Butter Frying Pan with Wild Coda Nera salmon, lemon gel and purslane, where the persistence of the salmon's flavor meets the gentleness of the butter.
