Patarashca

As tradition built it

Patarashca

15 to 20 minutes over coals

Ingredients

• 4 (about 250g each) whole river fish (gamitana, paco, sábalo, boquichico or paiche among the Loreto roster)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1, medium onion
• 1, diced sweet pepper
• 6 leaves sacha culantro
• 4 to 8 ají charapita
• 8 large leaves bijao leaf, for wrapping

Method

1. Season the whole fish with garlic, onion, sweet pepper, sacha culantro and ají charapita.
2. Briefly flame the bijao leaf before wrapping, to seal in moisture and scent the fish as it cooks.
3. Wrap the fish in the leaf and grill directly over coals, or on a grill, for 15 to 20 minutes, turning partway through.

Notes

The general Loreto river-fish roster is named, gamitana, paco, sábalo, boquichico and paiche, rather than asserting which is specifically preferred for this dish over the others, since no source found made that distinction with confidence.

What a modern chef changes

Sous vide inside the leaf, then a hot finish

Rung 01

Method

1. Cook the fish itself sous vide inside its own leaf parcel, bagged around the wrapped leaf rather than instead of it, to a precise, still-moist doneness impossible to guarantee over open coals.
2. Finish the parcel with a short, hot blast on the Big Green Egg for the char and smoke the traditional method actually delivers.
3. Dehydrate and grind a portion of the aromatic herbs into a finishing dust in the spice grinder, dusted over the fish the moment the leaf is opened at table, so the aroma the flamed leaf itself contributes is not diluted by the elevation's own precision.