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is in his estimate of hake as having a ‘coarser, less bland-tasting flesh’ than cod. Perhaps this applies to American species. I would say quite the contrary about hake in Europe. The reason for its popularity in the Iberian peninsula may well have something to do with its availability, but there are a number of people who would still choose hake over haddock and cod who live much further north.

TO CHOOSE AND PREPARE HAKE

If you want to cook a whole fish, there is something to be said for choosing a hake rather than a more expensive sea bass or a farm salmon. Ask the fishmonger to scrape and clean the fish for you. Follow the Norway method with cod (p. 95), or – if you are making a cold dish – follow Alan Davidson’s recipe, opposite.

Slices of hake are best from the head end of the fish. And they benefit greatly from a preliminary salting, as do cod, haddock and whiting steaks and fillets. This might be said of most fish, but the difference is particularly outstanding with the Gadidae family, since the salt improves the texture of the fish, not just its flavour. I have done test cookings of hake to see the difference salting makes – half the slices salted, half untouched until cooking time. The difference was spectacular. All you need do is range the slices in a dish, sprinkle a pinch of salt over each one and leave them for an hour at least. Longer will not do any harm at all: turn the slices, if you can, after an hour, for even distribution. As a general guide to quantity, allow a tablespoon to each 1 kg (2 lb) of fish.

Heads of hake, like cod and haddock head, are excellent for fish soup (p. 498).

HAKE IN ASPIC (Pescada en geleia)

A fine dish of summer eating that Alan Davidson gave in his North Atlantic Seafood, in memoriam Peter Ratcliffe, C.B.E., the friend who supplied the recipe. If ever there was a man who belonged to Petrarch’s enviable band of civilized people – Nos autem cui mundus est patria velut piscibus aequor, people to whom the wide world is home as the sea is to fish – it must be Alan Davidson. Perhaps I am wrong in detecting a faint note of homesickness for Europe in the picture he gives of the two of them in Vientiane, far from any sea, talking of the book Alan was planning, and the friend offering this recipe from his other home on the Minho river in Portugal. A recipe which gave the stimulus to start writing.

Serves 6–8

fish stock*

1 kg (2 lb) piece of hake, cut in thick 2-cm (¾ -inch) slices

3 tablespoons chicken broth

gelatine (see recipe)

2 tablespoons capers

3 tablespoons lemon juice

SAUCE

1 large cucumber, peeled, cut in thin strips

300 ml (10 fl oz) double cream

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons finely chopped chives

plus: chopped parsley and thin cucumber slices to decorate

Bring the stock to boiling point, put in the hake and adjust heat to maintain a simmer. After 5 minutes, check the fish and remove the moment it is tender. Discard skin and bone, divide the pieces into a convenient size and put into an attractive dish that they will almost fill.

Strain the stock through a muslin: there should be nearly 1 litre (1¾ pt). Add the chicken stock and enough gelatine – see instructions on packet – to set the quantity of liquid. Add the capers and lemon juice. Pour this over the fish, which should be covered, and the dish full almost to the top. Put it in the refrigerator to set, at least 4 hours, but leave 6 to be sure, or 8. When almost set, decorate with parsley and halved cucumber slices.

For the sauce, dry the cucumber. Whip the cream and mix it with lemon juice to taste, then cucumber, onion and chives. Serve chilled with the aspic.

HAKE IN A GREEN SAUCE (Merluza en salsa verde)

This is a charming and simple dish for spring and early summer especially. Serve it with asparagus or very young peas. Some Spanish hake recipes of this kind include slices of potato fried first in the oil, but I prefer small new potatoes, halved after cooking and turned in parsley, for