I was always told off as a child for adding salt to fish when I ate it. “It swims in the sea, it is already salty” was the rationale. When I got older I managed to get a salt adding dispensation for trout when I managed to prove using an Encyclopaedia and reading that as freshwater fish, trout would not be over saturated with condiments. And now my parents have little control over me I add a generous sprinkle to even cod. All of which is a preamble to the taste sensation I had last night in Busaba. Salted Blue Mackerel.
I imagine that if the word blue wasn’t in there, no-one would ever order it. Mackerel, despite being effortlessly tasty, gets a pretty bad press. Smoked it makes a great salad centre-piece, but its a pretty ugly fresh fish and as a scavenger people are worried about its diet. I like it, but i must admit it would take a leap for me to pick it out in a restaurant. It was only that my two companions had picked the two items I had suggested leaving me with the unknown parts of the menu. And lo, when the salted blue mackerel came, said companions were jealous.
Cracking through a crust of rock salt my mouth had to contend with two sensations. First the real saltiness. Second the smokiness. It was meaty, fresh, lively and – in a little bit of sesame sauce – extremely moreish. A third of a forkful (I had gone with the chopsticks originally but gave it up as a bad job) with rice made a beautifully strong suite of sensations. For six quid, it was all the Omega 3 oils I need in a week and at least half of the allocated use of my tastebuds. I’m going home now to marinate some anchovies in salt.