Masgouf recipe

A river carp split down the back into one flat disc, brushed with tamarind and turmeric, and roasted for hours standing upright beside an apricot-wood fire rather than over it.

3 hourshard9 ingredients

Ingredients

• 2500 g whole carp
• 2 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp rock salt
• 100 ml olive oil
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 lemons
• 4 flatbread

How to make Masgouf

1. Split a 2.5 kg whole carp along the back from head to tail, leaving the belly skin uncut, then gut and scale it and open it out flat into a single symmetrical disc. It is never filleted or cut into steaks.
2. Whisk 100 ml of olive oil, 2 tbsp of tamarind paste, 1 tbsp of ground turmeric and 2 tsp of rock salt, and brush this only on the flesh side. There is no cumin or paprika crust in masgouf.
3. Rest 30 minutes while you burn apricot or other fruit wood down to a long bed of embers in a pit or fire ring.
4. Pin the fish open on two stakes and stand it upright at the edge of the embers, flesh facing the fire, never above it. It cooks by radiant heat for 1 to 2 hours and is not turned.
5. When the flesh is opaque and pulling from the bone, lay the fish skin-side down straight on the embers for 5 to 10 minutes to crisp the skin.
6. At home you cannot build the vertical fire pit, so say so rather than fake it: set the opened fish flesh-up on a rack 20 cm below a hot broiler for 40 to 50 minutes, then 5 minutes skin-down on a very hot grill. Slow radiant heat is the point; a 25-minute flipped grill gives another dish entirely.
7. Slide it onto a board, scatter 3 sliced tomatoes and 1 sliced onion over the fish, and serve with flatbread, 2 lemons in wedges and pickles.

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