Essential · 2 hours, with a 30-minute cure · Serves 4
Butterflied grilled pacú with golden cassava and salsa criolla
Illustrative image generated with AI, not a photo of the cooked dish.
Whole pacú opened butterfly-style and grilled over embers, as it is done in the Litoral: golden, crackling skin and white-pink, fatty, juicy flesh that flakes into pieces. It is served on a big board, to share at the table, with tender cassava with toasted edges and a fresh criolla of tomato, bell pepper and onion that cuts the richness of the fish.
The flesh is cured for half an hour with coarse salt, garlic and parsley, so it reaches the fire already seasoned. Opened butterfly-style, the fish cooks evenly in one go: most of the time skin side down over low embers, so the fat melts slowly, without flames, and the skin toasts; only at the end is it turned to brown the flesh. The cassava is boiled first and finished on the grill, so it is creamy inside and crisp outside.
Special equipment: wood or charcoal grill; double fish grill (recommended); fine probe thermometer; large serving board
Ingredients
Butterflied grilled pacú
- 1 whole pacú of 2.5 to 3 kg, gutted, scaled and headless, opened butterfly-style along the back (ask the fishmonger to do it).
- 25 g coarse salt.
- 4 garlic cloves, minced very fine.
- 20 g parsley leaves, chopped.
- 1 g ground black pepper.
- 30 g sunflower oil.
- 3 lemons, in wedges, to serve.
Golden cassava
- 1 kg peeled cassava (yuca), in pieces of about 6 cm.
- 2.5 l water and 25 g coarse salt, for boiling.
- 50 g melted butter.
- 0.5 g flaky salt.
Salsa criolla
- 250 g ripe firm tomatoes (2 medium), seeded, in 1 cm dice.
- 120 g red bell pepper, in 1 cm dice.
- 120 g onion, in 5 mm dice.
- 10 g parsley leaves, chopped.
- 25 g wine vinegar.
- 50 g olive oil.
- 4 g fine salt.
- 1 g ground chili (ají molido).
Method
Butterflied grilled pacú
- Cure. Pat the fish dry with paper towels, inside and out. Mix the coarse salt, garlic, parsley and pepper and rub them over the open flesh, without touching the skin. Set it flesh side up on a rack over a tray and leave it 30 minutes in the refrigerator at 5 °C (41 °F) or less, uncovered. The salt draws out moisture: before grilling, pat the flesh dry without rinsing it.
- Build the fire. Light the embers about 40 minutes before grilling. They are ready when the charcoal or wood is covered in gray ash and your hand, held at grill height, can stay 6 or 7 seconds, about 180–200 °C (355–390 °F). Spread them in a low, even layer on one side, leaving a third of the grill without embers, to move the fish aside if the fat flares up. Raise the grill to about 15 cm above the embers, then clean and oil it.
- Grill skin side down. Brush the skin with the oil and set the opened fish skin side down over the low embers; if you have a double fish grill, close the fish inside it, oiled. Grill it 30–35 minutes without moving it: the fat drips and melts, and the skin releases from the grill on its own when it is golden and crisp. If a flame flares up, move the fish to the ember-free area until it dies down. Turn in one motion, with the double grill or with two wide spatulas and a second person, because the flesh is fragile, and grill 8–10 minutes on the flesh side, until it browns. With the probe in the thickest part of the back, not touching the spine, it should read 70 °C (158 °F). The total time, 40–45 minutes, is approximate for a fish 3–4 cm thick at the back: the probe decides.
- Rest. Move it to the serving board, flesh side up, uncovered, for 5 minutes. The fat settles and the skin stays dry.
Golden cassava
- Boil. Put the cassava in the water with the coarse salt, bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 25 minutes, until a knife goes through without resistance. Start at the same time as the fish goes on the grill. Drain and discard the water. Open each piece and remove the fibrous core. Let it air-dry for 3 minutes.
- Brown on the grill. Brush the pieces with the melted butter and grill them over low embers, in the middle area of the grill, 3–4 minutes per side, until they have dark marks and toasted edges, while the pacú finishes on the flesh side. Season with the flaky salt.
Salsa criolla
- Mix. Combine the tomato, bell pepper, onion, parsley, vinegar, oil, salt and chili. Let it rest at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours in the refrigerator, so the onion softens and the juices come together. Makes about 550 g.
The dish
Use a large wooden board or a long platter, warm, and set the whole opened pacú in the center, flesh side up, so the white-pink, golden flesh shows along the back. Arrange the golden cassava in a row on one side, cut in half if large, with the grill marks facing up. Put the salsa criolla in a bowl on the other side of the board, so everyone helps themselves without wetting the skin. Scatter the lemon wedges along the edge. Bring to the table right away and serve with a wide spatula, in portions of flakes from the back toward the edge, with cassava and criolla on each plate: copper-colored skin, moist glossy flesh, golden cassava and the criolla red and green.
Key points
- Dry the flesh and skin well before grilling: moisture keeps the skin from browning and crisping.
- Grill over low embers with an ember-free area: pacú fat causes flare-ups that blacken the skin.
- Do not move the fish until the skin releases from the grill on its own; turn it in one go.
- Go by the probe, 70 °C (158 °F) in the thickest part, not by the clock.
- Remove the cassava's central core and cook it until a knife goes in without resistance.
Pairing
Cool Torrontés from Salta or La Rioja, well chilled: its floral aroma and acidity cleanse the richness. Without alcohol, lemonade with plenty of ice.
Notes
- Fish: choose firm-fleshed pacú with a clean smell, from a trusted fishmonger. Farmed pacú can have muddy notes; the smoke and the final lemon soften them. The spine and the fine bones are removed when serving.
- Cassava: always cook it fully and discard the cooking water; it is not eaten raw. Remove the fibrous core.
- Gas grill: medium heat, lid closed, about 180–200 °C (355–390 °F). The smoke is milder.
- Storage: the pacú is served freshly grilled. Leftover fish, cooled quickly, keeps in the refrigerator at 5 °C (41 °F) or less up to 2 days and is reheated to 74 °C (165 °F) in the center. The criolla keeps 2 days covered in the refrigerator.
- Scaling: by fish; grilling time depends on thickness, not weight, and the grill must hold the opened fish without touching other pieces.