Sardinas Asadas con Cachelos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Charcoal grill with a clean grate
• •Fish-grilling basket or broad fish spatula
• •4-litre saucepan
• •Long grill tongs
• •Instant-read thermometer, optional

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the coals

   Light the charcoal about 30 minutes before you want to eat. Once the coals are red inside and covered with pale ash, spread them into a dense, even bed with one clear edge as a cooler refuge. Set the grate 8 to 10cm above them and heat it for 5 minutes. You want fierce, settled heat, roughly 230 to 260°C at the grate, without active flames.

   Sardine fat can flare when it hits the coals. Leave that cooler edge ready so you can slide the fish aside until the flame dies. Don't throw water onto the grill; it sends ash onto supper.
2. 2

   Salt the sardines

   Keep the sardines whole, with their scales and innards, tal como se hace allí, exactly as it's done there. Pat them completely dry, then sprinkle 20g coarse salt evenly over both sides. Refrigerate them uncovered for 20 minutes while the potatoes cook. Just before grilling, blot away any beads of moisture without rubbing off the salt.

3. 3

   Boil the cachelos

   Put the potatoes into a 4-litre saucepan with 2.5 litres cold water, the fine salt, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook at a steady simmer for 18 to 22 minutes. The largest piece is ready when a thin skewer passes through its centre without resistance, but before the edges collapse. Drain well, discard the bay leaves, and return the cachelos to the uncovered warm pan for 1 minute so their surfaces dry. Fold through 15ml olive oil.

4. 4

   Grill and turn once

   With long tongs, wipe the hot grate lightly with the remaining 15ml olive oil. Lay the sardines across the bars in one uncrowded layer and leave the grill open. Cook without moving them for 3 to 4 minutes, until the skin is blistered, browned in patches, and releases cleanly from the grate. Turn once with a broad fish spatula or close the grilling basket, then cook the second side for 2 to 3 minutes. The flesh at the shoulder should be opaque, juicy, and easy to lift from the backbone; the largest fish should reach 63°C at its thickest point.

   The first untouched minutes decide the dish. A properly hot grate sets the skin before the flesh dries; turning early leaves half the sardine on the bars.
5. 5

   Serve at once

   Put three sardines on each plate with a generous portion of cachelos. Taste the potatoes and use up to the remaining 5g coarse salt if they need it. Bring the fish straight from the grill to the table, with pan de millo or crusty bread to catch the juices. Don't cover or hold them warm, because trapped moisture softens the skin. Lift away the top fillet, remove the backbone, and eat the lower fillet. Nadie nace sabiendo, nobody is born knowing.

Chef Tips

• •Buy sardines when they're naturally fat, around early summer in Galicia. Look for bright eyes, firm bellies, red gills, and silver skin that hasn't rubbed away. They should smell clean and briny, never sour or sharply fishy.
• •Whole frozen sardines are better than tired fish sold as fresh. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and dry them very well. The flavour remains good, though the flesh is softer and a grilling basket becomes useful.
• •These are traditionally grilled whole and ungutted. If that isn't for you, ask the fishmonger to gut them without opening the belly farther than necessary. They'll lose a little juice and need gentler turning, but the plate remains worth eating.
• •No outdoor grill? Use a heavy cast-iron plancha over high heat, cook the sardines in batches, and ventilate the kitchen well. You'll lose the scent of the coals, and the dish will tell you so, but the hot iron still gives good blistered skin.
• •Outside sardine season, Galicia puts xarda, mackerel, beside cachelos. It is rich enough for the same fierce grill and costs little, but name it for what it is rather than asking a thin winter sardine to do summer's work.
• •Serve with a young Ribeiro or a dry Albariño from Rías Baixas. The fish waits for nobody, so have the potatoes, bread, and plates ready before the first sardine touches the grate.
• •Refrigerate leftover cooked sardines within 2 hours, or within 1 hour on a very hot day, and eat them cold by the next day. Regrilling dries them out.

Advance Preparation

• •Buy the sardines on the day you cook them. Keep them at 4°C or colder on a draining tray over ice so they remain cold without sitting in meltwater.
• •The potatoes can be scrubbed and cut up to 4 hours ahead. Keep them submerged in cold water, then drain before cooking.
• •Have the coals lit 30 minutes before serving and salt the sardines only 20 minutes before grilling. Salt them much earlier and their juices begin to leave before the fire gets them.
• •The cachelos can wait uncovered in their warm pan for about 15 minutes. The sardines cannot wait at all, so grill them only when everyone is ready to eat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 440g)