The double origin of fish-shaped crackers

In the category of salty crackers, which are still often offered as an appetizer in bars and cocktail lounges, and even to accompany some cheese or cold cuts, there is one type with a curious shape: the fish crackers, whose shape does not match their flavor.

Typically, in gastronomy, container and content correspond, except when the trompe l'oeil effect is used, as in the recipe for chocolate peppers at the Disfrutar restaurant or the Pastilla Artesana at Mugaritz. However, the fish-shaped cookies don't taste like anything marine: neither anchovies nor sardines nor fish sauce.

The unusual shape of these crispy biscuits may have a dual origin. Regarding their container, the fish shape was chosen because it is the symbol of the Pisces horoscope. The first brand to market them was the Swiss company Kambly, located in Trubschachen, in the Emmental region. Founded in 1910 by Oskar Kambly and his brother Paul, they produced products that are still consumed in Swiss homes today, such as the sweet Bretzeli biscuits.

It wasn't until 1954 that the first goldfish would appear, shaped like those golden fish, the golden crucian carp ( Carassius auratus ), which referred to the horoscope of Oscar J. Kambly's wife, a second-generation cookie-making industry man. The idea was soon copied by Margaret Rudkin, who began making them at her Pepperidge Farm factory (now part of the Campbell Soup Company) in Connecticut in 1962, after having tried them on vacation in Switzerland. She introduced the innovation: a smiley face on each cookie and more flavors, of which cheddar cheese has been the most successful since it began production in 1966. The originals, simply with a touch of salt, were a favorite of chef Julia Child, who served them with her famous "upside-down" martini, where she swapped the ratios of the original recipe to give greater importance to the dry vermouth.

The originals, simply with a touch of salt, were a favorite of chef Julia Child

The other theory about their origin, which fits well with the fish-shaped nature of the biscuit, lies in their preparation and recipe, which is inspired by a type of dry biscuit that's thousands of years old. Baker Daniel Jordà believes that the origin of these little fish is sea bread, used on long voyages as far back as Ancient Greece and Rome. "It was a biscuit, a dough baked twice, crispy and long-lasting. But in this case, since they're so small, they can't be baked twice." Interestingly, the Kably company currently makes products with similar characteristics for the Swiss Army.

Regarding its composition, fat and flour stand out, and most ingredient lists include wheat flour, vegetable fats, salt, sugar, raising agents, yeast, and also flavorings such as barley malt or spices.

Asked about his recipe, baker and food educator Ibán Yarza believes it could be "a simple, straightforward dough that rises primarily through chemical raising agents that generate the gas that swells the dough. In the oven, the dough is baked until it's dehydrated to the point where it's optimally crisp." The difference between different preparations is determined by whether or not yeast is used. "This information is important for understanding the nature of a product. Dough can be raised in several ways: through yeast fermentation (which converts the sugars in the flour into CO2 and alcohol) or through a chemical reaction that produces gas, as we do with cookies or cakes, using some type of raising agent (sodium or ammonium bicarbonate, for example). Two of the recipes consulted combine the use of yeast with raising agents (which I imagine are the most common)."

The other theory about its origin, which goes well with the fish-shaped nature of the cookie, lies in its preparation and recipe.

Yarza recalls that saltine crackers are something ancient. “The sailors' crackers that have been used for centuries to feed crews on the high seas. Although they're called "biscuits," they were actually fermented doughs (well, what we call bread). It's no coincidence that the two archipelagos are where the archaic sailors' crackers (the crostes of the Pitiusas or the bizcochao bread of the Canary Islands, both spongy breads baked twice to dry out and achieve a crunch and preservation) survive the most.”