Salt & vinegar garfish - Saint Peter

“The instruction to the guest is to rip a small piece of the bread, dip it in the brine, then liberally butter the bread and top with the garfish: RIP, DIP, BUTTER, FISH.” — Josh Niland

Serves 4

4 very fresh garfish (Piper), butterflied, rib bones out, head and tail intact (approx 100g each)

80g sea salt flakes

250ml champagne vinegar

120ml Perello brand gordal olive brine

65ml extra-virgin olive oil

4 slices sourdough bread to serve

cultured butter to serve

To pickle the garfish, season the skin and flesh sides evenly with the salt, then place on a tray and refrigerate, uncovered, for 90 minutes. Rinse the salt from the fish in a small amount of the vinegar. Submerge the vinegar-rinsed fish in a bath of the remaining vinegar and leave to pickle for about 3 5 minutes. Remove the pickled garfish from the vinegar, reserving the vinegar for the next batch you make.

Lay the fish skin side up. Cut the head and tail from the fish and set aside for presentation. Separate the two fillets but keep them side by side. Use the fish pliers or tweezers to grab a comer of the skin closest to where the head would have been and gently pull off the skin, leaving behind the silver skin. Cut both garfish fillets at the same time into slices about 5 mm (¼ in) thick working head to tail. 

Assemble the slices from one garfish on each of four serving plates, remembering to start with the head at twelve o'clock and finish with the tail at six o'clock. Divide the olive brine and the olive oil between four jugs (30 ml/1 fl oz brine and 15 ml/½ fl oz olive oil per jug). Serve alongside warm sourdough and cultured butter, and pour the olive brine solution over the finished garfish. The instruction to the guest is to rip a small piece of the bread, dip it in the brine, then liberally butter the bread and top with the garfish: RIP, DIP, BUTTER, FISH.

This is an edited extract from Saint Peter by Josh Niland, published by Hardie Grant Books.

📷 Photography by David Loftus.