Recipe no. 653 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 277.
Ingredients
- fish
- salt
Preparation
- Drain and prepareTake, as far as possible, fish from the month of May. Remove the heads and put into a large dish with plenty of coarsely ground salt.
- DrainLeave the fish for a whole day so that it releases all its water.
- Prepare the coloured saltPrepare some coarsely ground salt into which a little cinnabar is mixed, in enough quantity to give the salt and the fish a red colour.
- Pack into the potPut at the bottom of a pot or a small wooden barrel a layer of coloured salt. Then place a layer of fish, well pressed against each other, tail against head. Alternate a layer of salt and a layer of fish to the top of the pot, pressing well and always finishing with a layer of salt.
- Press and watch overPut on top a small board equal to the circumference of the vessel, loading it with a weight strong enough to press the fish without crushing it.
- Remove the surface oilA few days later, remove the oil that will rise above the brine, for it would give the fish a rancid taste.
- Speed up the saltingA month later, the pot or barrel can be exposed to the rays of the sun for a few days. Take care that brine is never lacking, and if it happens to diminish, add a cooled solution of boiling water and salt.
Reboul's text
Take, as far as possible, fish from the month of May, remove the heads and put it into a large dish with plenty of coarsely ground salt. Leave the fish there for a whole day so that it releases all its water. Then have, in a separate dish, some coarsely ground salt into which you mix a little cinnabar, in enough quantity to give the salt and the fish a red colour. Put at the bottom of a pot or a small wooden barrel a layer of coloured salt, then place a layer of fish, well pressed against each other, tail against head. A layer of salt, a layer of fish, and so on to the top of the pot, pressing well and always finishing with a layer of salt. Take care to put on top a small board equal to the circumference of the vessel, loading it with a weight strong enough to press the fish without crushing it.
A few days later your anchovies or sardines will have released a considerable amount of water, which must be left alone: this is the brine. But above it a film of oil will rise, which must be carefully removed, and which would give the fish a rancid taste, if it did not spoil it altogether.
If you wish to hasten the salting, a month after the operation just described, expose the pot or the barrel to the rays of the sun for a few days; the heat will bring forward the moment when the fish will be fit to eat. In any case, take care that brine is never lacking; if it happens to diminish, add more. To do this, dissolve salt in boiling water in as great a quantity as the water can dissolve. Pour this cooled solution over your fish.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| peis | fish |
| sau | salt |
| plat | dish |
| aigo | water |
| barriéu | barrel |
| aigo-sau | brine |
| òli | oil |
| soulèu | sun |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 653, page 277. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.