Beautiful barra

by Ann Oliver
Hunter 12

You only need to travel around Asia to realise that the West is totally paranoid about refrigeration. In Asia it is common to see squid lying on the pavement drying in the hot sun and fresh meat sitting for hours in butchers’ market stalls. The smell of drying fish sits in the air; it is part of the atmosphere of far-away lands. What would Malaysian food be without blachan - the smelly paste made from dried prawns? It just doesn’t taste the same without it, yet trying to convince domestic cooks to use it in their cooking has always been a problem.

Cultures that can’t afford to waste anything find ways of using everything. Watching women comb the spines of fish with hair combs - raking every last particle of flesh for fish balls - and then seeing the spines go into a broth is to understand nothing is wasted.

Few cookbooks capture the sense of the culture of these countries, or take the time to explain the history behind the food and the intelligence that allows it to be kept without refrigeration. David Thompson’s fantastic book Thai Food is an exception to this rule.

The simple combination of equal quantities of fish sauce, white wine vinegar, light soy sauce and brown sugar is a simple way of keeping fish without refrigeration and gives fish the crispiest skin. It works well with small fish, about 350-400g, and will semi-cure them in a matter of hours; larger fish can take a day to fully cure.

We used this recipe with plate-sized farmed barramundi with great success. The fragrance and flavour of a wood fire would make an already good dish truly fantastic. There are dozens of other great ideas in Thai Food that would transpose to simple bush cooking.

Marinade

• 500ml fish sauce
• 500ml light soy sauce
• 500ml white wine vinegar
• 500ml soft brown sugar

Instructions
Bring everything to the boil and stir just long enough to dissolve the sugar.

Pour half of the marinade into a dish large enough to hold your fish. Put the fish into the marinade and pour the remaining marinade over the top. Turn the fish every couple of hours. Marinate for three to four hours for a small fish and eight for larger fish.

A couple of hours before you cook your fish, stand it on a rack and allow it to dry out in the air. Cook the fish on a rack or in a fish frame over low coals until the skin is crispy and the fish is cooked.

Note: A fish frame is the best way for cooking fish over coals as it can be so easily turned.