Hout Mechoui

Where This Goes Wrong

Salt 20 minutes ahead. It stops the skin sticking.

Oil the bars, not the fish, or it flares and sooty smoke coats the skin.

Do not move it on the first side. It releases when ready.

Making Hout Mechoui

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1. Slash the fish three times on each side down to the bone. Salt them all over and leave 20 minutes — the surface will go slightly tacky.

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2. Char the peppers and tomatoes whole over the coals or under a grill, 12 minutes, until blackened. Peel, deseed and chop with the garlic.

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3. Fry the chopped mixture in 4 tbsp oil with the caraway and salt for 6 minutes until jammy, then stir in the lemon juice. Set aside.

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4. Get the coals to a steady medium heat with no flames. Brush the grill bars with oil, not the fish.

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5. Grill the fish 7 minutes on the first side without moving it. It will release itself when it is ready.

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6. Turn once and grill 6 to 7 minutes more, until the flesh at the thickest point comes away from the bone.

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7. Rest 3 minutes and serve with the tastira, lemon wedges, oil and parsley.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Why the Method Works

Salting the fish twenty minutes before it goes on the grill draws moisture to the surface, which then dries and forms the tacky layer that keeps the skin from welding to the bars. It is the single most useful thing you can do for grilled fish and it takes no effort. Oil the grill bars rather than the fish as well: oil on the fish drips into the coals and flares, coating the skin in soot.

After You've Cooked It

Best immediately. Leftover flaked fish keeps a day and is good in a fricassé.

Changing the Recipe

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Serving Hout Mechoui

• Slata tounsia
• Khobz tabouna
• Harissa

Common Questions About Hout Mechoui

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: weights that include bone are counted as if all of it were eaten, so the figures run high. How the figures are worked out.

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