Gouna Skopelou (Γούνα Σκοπέλου)

Gouna Skopelou is the Sporades island way with mackerel: split open, salted, dried by sun and salt wind, then grilled hard enough to catch at the edges. It isn't simply grilled fish. The drying is the dish, because it tightens the flesh and concentrates the oil until the mackerel tastes sweeter, deeper, and more itself.

The one thing to get right is the surface of the fish before it meets the fire. It must be dry and slightly tacky, not wet. Wet mackerel steams against the grill and breaks. Dried mackerel browns fast, holds together, and gives you that firm bite Skopelos keeps for summer tables and ouzo plates by the harbor.

I give you the island method, with a careful refrigerator-drying option for kitchens without clean sun and moving air. I don't call that old. I call it honest. The region is the dish's surname, and Skopelos made this from the fish it had, the wind it trusted, and the need to keep a good catch a little longer.