Marinating Raw Fish

Small quantities of thinly sliced raw fish, partly ‘cooked’ by the action of some applied agent – acid, salt, alcohol, herbs – then artfully arranged on the plate, can make an upbeat first course. British food champion, Henrietta Green, cuts fine, real, undyed, cold-smoked haddock at a slant into tissue-paper-thin slices which she layers with finely chopped spring onion and black pepper before dribbling olive oil over, to serve half an hour later with wodges of brown bread. Others seem to have forged their entire early careers on style-conscious dinner parties with exquisite positionings of raw scallop, salmon and monkfish marinated in vodka and fresh lime.