Carapaus Alimados - Salted Lemon Mackerel

Posted on February 29, 2008
Filed Under Food

I had been thinking about writing this post for a while, but first I had to get over the idea of cleaning the fish. I have to confess gutting and cutting the heads off a fish, or anything else for that matter, is well, not exactly my cup of tea. So, when a family member and pro at this told me she was making “Carapaus Alimados” (salted lemon Mackerel) for lunch the next day…I shamelessly confessed my plight and asked to witness this time old Algarvian recipe.

Carapaus Alimados Portuguese Dish

Carapaus Alimados is a simple, but unique dish of partially salted mackerel, served with quality olive oil, tons of fresh garlic and fresh squeezed lemon juice to top it all off. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but the “Alimado” leads me to believe the name is possibly derived from the final flavoring of lemon on the fish when served. But if anyone knows different, I love hearing where things come from and how they got their name so feel free to contribute your insight. Back to the fish…the fish goes through a temporary salting process that gives it unique flavours and texture, then a light boil and finally the skin is removed, to then be served with oil, garlic and lemon. If you have to clean the fish yourself its a bit of work, but a very nice dish that’s definitely worth a try.

Salted Mini Marceral

Carapaus Alimados
Source: Lucilia | Serves 4

1kl Fresh Mackerel (med. sized)
Course sea salt
2-4 Cloves garlic, thinly sliced or finely chopped
Olive oil
Fresh lemons

Get the freshest mackerel you can find from a trusted fishmonger, and if you can get them to clean the fish you can skip the process of cleaning them yourself.

To prepare the fish - once fish is gutted and heads removed they need a very thorough cleaning in cold running water, to remove any intestines or blood. Check each fish individually inside the belly to make sure bellies are well cleaned and there is no intestinal debris. Place fish in a colander and let drain.

Salting the fish - You can use the same colander for this salting part, and keep a bowl underneath to catch the draining water. Once mackerel is clean and well drained, take each individual fish and salt inside the bellies and lay in bowl in a ‘head to tail - tail to head’ fashion, so they fit snuggly against each other. Salt each well when placing in row to form an even layer. Then salt layer before starting next layer. You can add a little pressure on each layer to make sure their snug. Repeat this process until all fish are well-salted and fitting snuggly against each other.

Conserving in salt - once final fish layer is on, salt top well and cover. Place in refrigerator: overnight 8-12 hours are ideal. Anything less than 8 hours and fish will not salt properly and will break easily during the cooking process. 12 hours is ideal, for consistency and flavour, it can also kept in salt for up to 24 hours but fish will be a bit drier and saltier.

After the salting process is finished, wash fish well again with running water removing all traces of salt, place in pot of boiling water for 15 - 20min.

Once boiled, gently drain all hot water. Then fill pot with very cold water, and gently rub each fish to remove all the skin. Once you remove the skin lay each fish in the head to tail position again, but this time on a serving platter. If you have a large platter you can also lay fish in a single row, if you like.

When all skins have been removed fish is lined up in the serving platter, thinly slice or finally chop garlic and sprinkle over fish, then drizzle a healthy amount of olive oil over top, and serve. **You do not need to flavour this fish with salt.

Serve Carapaus Alimados, with a nice side bowl big lemon wedges, and the olive oil close by, so each person can dress their fish as they like. *Note: traditionally a heavier full flavoured olive oil is used for this dish, so feel free to use a robust olive oil rather than an extra virgin, if you prefer.

Marceral in salt

This is a light and healthy dish, normally served with boiled potatoes and greens, plus a string of olive oil all over, or fresh tomatoes salad with lots of oreganos…and of course more olive oil. Which ever you prefer, this is a great light dish that can also work as a nice appetizer. Spring is almost here so this dish is a great dish to start welcoming the warmer weather. Don’t forget some crusty bread and bring out the Vinho Verde!

Carappaus Alimados - salted mini marceral

Lucky me, not only did I get to witness this traditional recipe done by a master, but I didn’t have to gut or chop the head off of anything! The best part was yet to come; we got invited for lunch! Felt guilty for about a minute, but belly ruled and that was that, and we had a great lunch, thanks Lucilia!

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