Pescado al Horno con Mayonesa Sinaloense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Oval clay cazuela or 9x13 inch baking dish
• •Sharp chef's knife for scoring the fish
• •Microplane or molcajete for the garlic paste
• •Whisk and medium mixing bowl
• •Fish spatula or wide offset spatula for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the fish

   Buy the whole fish that morning if you can. Snapper (huachinango) or sea bass (robalo) is what they use along the Sinaloa coast. The eyes should be clear, the gills bright red, the flesh firm when you press it. If the fishmonger has not scaled it, ask him to do it now. You want it gutted, gilled, and scaled, but with the head and tail on. The head is where the flavor lives. Without it, you have a fillet, not a pescado al horno.

   Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina. The fish vendor is your friend. Tell him what you are making and he will pull the right fish. In Mazatlan they would hand you a pargo without asking.
2. 2

   Score and season the fish

   Heat the oven to 400F. Pat the fish completely dry with paper towels, inside and out. Wet fish does not brown. Lay it on a cutting board and make three diagonal cuts on each side, slicing down to the bone. The cuts let the seasoning reach the flesh and let the heat travel through the fish evenly. Squeeze the juice of two limes over both sides and into the cavity. Season generously with the salt and black pepper, working some into each cut. Let it sit while you make the mayonesa.

3. 3

   Build the mayonesa sinaloense

   In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, garlic paste, Worcestershire, soy sauce, oregano, white pepper, parsley, and melted butter. Whisk it together until you have a thick, pale yellow paste that smells of garlic and lime. This is the salsa that gives the dish its name. The mustard cuts the richness of the mayo. The Worcestershire and soy bring the depth. La salsa inglesa and the soy are not foreign here. They have been in Sinaloan kitchens for over a century, brought by the trade between Mazatlan and Asia.

   No me vengas con atajos. Use a real mayonnaise, ideally Mexican-style with lime juice in it. McCormick is what most Sinaloan home cooks reach for. A homemade mayonesa is even better. Light or fat-free mayo will not bake the same way and will weep water onto the fish.
4. 4

   Prepare the baking dish

   Choose a baking dish or oval clay cazuela that fits the fish with a little room around it. Lay the onion rings and tomato slices across the bottom in a single layer. They protect the skin from sticking and they catch the juices that run off the fish. By the time the dish comes out of the oven, those onions will be sweet and the tomatoes will have collapsed into a sauce. Nothing wasted.

5. 5

   Coat the fish

   Place the fish on top of the onions and tomatoes. Spoon about a third of the mayonesa into the cavity and the rest over the top of the fish. Use the back of the spoon to push the salsa into the diagonal cuts and across the head. Coat it thickly. As the fish bakes, the mayonesa transforms. The top turns golden brown and the part touching the flesh becomes a creamy, garlic-saturated sauce that bastes the fish from above. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo.

6. 6

   Bake until it flakes

   Bake on the middle rack for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the fish. The mayonesa will puff up and turn deep golden brown in patches, with the edges almost dark. The flesh is done when it flakes cleanly off the bone with a fork at the thickest part behind the head. The internal temperature reads 135F to 140F. If the top is browning too fast before the fish is cooked through, drop the heat to 375F. Do not overbake. A dry fish is a sad fish, and there is no recovering from it.

7. 7

   Rest and serve at the table

   Let the fish rest for five minutes in the cazuela. The juices settle and the mayonesa firms up just enough to scoop. Bring the whole dish to the table. Pescado al horno is not plated individually. Each person takes flesh, sauce, onions, and tomatoes onto their plate or their tortilla. Set the lime wedges, avocado, hot sauce, and warm tortillas around the cazuela. Saltines on the side for those who grew up on the coast and know that is how it is eaten. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •The fish is the dish. Spend on a whole snapper or sea bass from a fishmonger you trust, not a vacuum-packed fillet from the freezer aisle. If your only option is frozen, thaw it slowly in the refrigerator overnight and pat it bone-dry before seasoning. A wet fish will not take the mayonesa coating.
• •Mexican-style mayonnaise made with lime juice is what Sinaloan home cooks use. McCormick and Hellmann's both make a version with jugo de limon. If you only have plain mayonnaise, add the juice of one extra lime to the salsa. The acidity is what keeps the dish from being heavy.
• •Save the bones and head after the meal. Simmer them with a quartered onion, a bay leaf, and a few peppercorns for thirty minutes and you have a fish broth for the next pot of arroz a la tumbada or a caldo. Nothing on a whole fish goes to waste in a Sinaloan kitchen.
• •If you cannot get a whole fish, this dish can be made with thick fillets of robalo, huachinango, or even mero. Reduce the bake time to 18 to 22 minutes. It will not have the depth of the whole fish version, but it will still taste like Sinaloa.

Advance Preparation

• •The mayonesa salsa can be mixed up to two days ahead and refrigerated in a sealed container. The garlic mellows and the flavor deepens overnight.
• •The fish should be coated and baked the same day. Once the lime juice and salt hit the flesh, the clock is running. Coat and bake within 30 minutes for the cleanest result.
• •Leftovers, if there are any, are excellent the next day flaked into warm corn tortillas with a squeeze of lime and a few drops of salsa huichol. Tacos de pescado al horno, the kind only the cook gets to eat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 280g)