Basque · Hegoalde (Spain) · appetizer

Kokotxas de Merluza al Pil-Pil

Kokotxas de Merluza al Pil-Pil reads salinity 7.1, umami 6.7 and richness 6.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Basque · Hegoalde (Spain) appetizer, about 31 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Salinity 7.1 · Umami 6.7 · Richness 6.0 · Allium 4.7 · Funk & Ferment 3.8 · Herbaceous 2.4 · Smoke 2.3 · Bitterness 1.7 · Sweetness 1.5 · Warm Spice 1.1 · Heat 1.0 · Marine & Briny 0.9 · Earthy 0.9 · Floral 0.8 · Sourness 0.8 · Nutty 0.6 · Fruity 0.6 · Citrus 0.5

What's in it (8)

Time & effort: about 31 min (26 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 27.3 kcal, 3.5 g protein, 1 g fat, 0.8 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

  1. Kokotxas are the small V-shaped throat pieces from under a hake's jaw. Ask a good fishmonger to order them; they are sold frozen in Spanish shops and the frozen ones work. Trim off any grey membrane and pat them very dry. Nothing else in this dish will hide wet fish.
  2. Pour the oil into a wide shallow earthenware cazuela or a heavy steel pan — you want a broad flat base, because the emulsion is made by moving liquid across it. Add the garlic coins and guindilla rings and set over low heat. Let them warm for about 5 minutes until the garlic is pale gold and just beginning to bubble at the edges. If it browns, the whole dish tastes bitter; pull the pan off the heat early if in doubt.
  3. Lift the garlic and chile out with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Let the oil cool until you can hold a finger near the surface without flinching, roughly 60C. This matters: hot oil sets the gelatin instead of releasing it.
  4. Slide the kokotxas in skin side down in a single layer and poach them over the lowest possible heat for 4 minutes, spooning oil over them. They will go opaque and release a cloudy white liquid — that is the gelatin, and it is the entire sauce.
  5. Now take the pan off the heat and make the pil-pil. Hold the cazuela by both handles and swirl it in flat, patient circles, keeping the oil moving over the base. Do not stir, do not whisk. After 2 or 3 minutes the liquid will start to thicken and pale; add the cold stock a teaspoon at a time as it does, and keep swirling for 8 minutes in all. The sauce goes from clear oil to something the colour and body of a light hollandaise. If it splits, add a spoonful of cold water and start swirling again — it will come back.
  6. Season with the salt, scatter the reserved garlic and chile and the parsley over the top, and toast the bread for 2 minutes a side. Serve immediately in the cooking dish, and use the bread for what is left.
  7. Substitutions: water can stand in for the cold light fish stock.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.