Name: Barbecued Fish (Simach Masgouf)
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: The fish is then put on a big tray, garnished with slices of tomato and onion. Sometimes it is topped with a prepared sauce consisting mostly of chopped parsley, tomatoes, onions, and garlic, with tamarind sauce and curry powder. Masgouf is usually eaten with bread, especially the Iraqi flatbreads, and accompanied by pickled mango.; A big fire is made from brushwood and date-palm leaves, which will give the fish its distinctive delicious smoky taste. Sticks are then stuck in the sand around the fire, about one foot away from the flames, two sticks for each fish, or one forked stick. The distance between them should be the same distance as between the two slashes made on each fish.; The fresh fish is cut lengthwise along the back all the way down without removing or breaking the backbone. The fish is then butterflied, cleaned, washed, and sprinkled with coarse salt and black pepper. Two 1in/1.5cm-wide slashes are made in the outer skin of the side that has the backbone, because it is heavier than the other. The fish is going to be hung from two stakes; therefore, these two slashes should be so spaced that the fish stays open and balanced while cooking without falling.

Preparation info

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Delights from the Garden of Eden

By Nawal Nasrallah

Published 2019

About

One of the most popular ways for preparing fish in Baghdad is by grilling it as masgouf, a method which in all probability goes back to ancient Mesopotamia. In some ancient Sumerian texts, fish was described as being ‘touched by fire,’ and ‘placed upon the fire,’ which possibly means placed on the glowing coals. Masgouf, as we shall see, is cooked in two stages. First, it is touched or licked by fire, and then it is placed on the fire. In modern times, masgouf is, more