The canonical festive fish of the Pantanal: pacu, a deep-bodied, notably fatty river fish, roasted whole until the skin crisps and the rich flesh stays moist. It is often scored and stuffed with a cassava-flour farofa of vegetables and herbs before going into the oven or over coals. The same fish gives the region another prized dish — costela de pacu, the meaty rib section, breaded and fried. Either way it is a centerpiece plate, the fish that turns up at Easter lunches and family celebrations across Mato Grosso do Sul.
Pacu is native to the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul and the wider Paraná, Paraguay, and Uruguay river basins. An omnivore that feeds heavily on fallen fruit, seeds, and small crustaceans, it builds up an unusually high fat content, which is exactly what makes it so good roasted — the fat keeps the flesh succulent under dry heat. Roasting the whole fish belongs to the festive table of the region, a celebration dish for Easter and family gatherings rather than everyday fare. The fish is so sought after for the table that it is among the most heavily fished species of these waters.
A whole roasted fish with bronzed, blistered skin that crackles, the flesh beneath white, flaky, and rich with its natural oils — moister and more buttery than leaner river fish. Where it is stuffed, the cassava farofa inside has soaked up the fat and juices into a savory, slightly crunchy filling. The fried ribs are the other pleasure: crisp coating over fatty, tender rib meat eaten off the bone with the fingers. Served with rice, pirão, and banana farofa.
Pacu's high fat content is the whole technique: under the dry heat of oven or coals the fat renders slowly and bastes the flesh from within, so the fish stays moist where a leaner one would dry out, while the skin dehydrates and crisps. Scoring the thick body lets heat and seasoning reach the interior and helps the skin blister evenly. A cassava-flour farofa stuffing both seasons the fish and absorbs the rendered fat instead of letting it run off. For the ribs, breading and frying crisps the exterior fast while the fatty meat between the bones cooks tender — the same fish, a different route to the same richness.
Variations
The whole fish may be roasted plain or stuffed with farofa; some cooks wrap it in banana leaf or foil to keep it moist, others roast it open for maximum crisp skin. Costela de pacu (the breaded fried ribs) is the celebrated alternative cut, found on menus across the Pantanal. Other large fatty river fish such as pacu-peva or tambaqui are roasted the same way. Rice, pirão, and banana farofa are the standard accompaniments.
On the Palate
Where Pacu Assado sits in the Brazilian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
6 steps · 45 min active + 1 hour 5 min waiting
- 160 min
Scale and gut the pacu, then score the thick sides; rub inside and out with lime, salt, garlic, and pepper and rest 1 hour.
Watch outScore the thick sides deep enough for heat and salt to reach in — the cuts also let the skin blister evenly; skip them and the outside chars before the middle's done.
- 212 min
Toast cassava flour with onion, peppers, herbs, and a little of the fish fat or butter to make a farofa stuffing.
- 35 min
Pack the farofa into the cavity and along the scored cuts.
- 43 min
Lay the fish in an oiled roasting tray (or on a grill rack over coals).
- 555 min
Roast in a hot oven, basting now and then with the rendered fat, until the skin is crisp and the flesh flakes.
Watch outBaste with the rendered fat as it roasts and pull it when the skin crackles and the flesh flakes — that self-basting fat is what keeps this fatty fish from drying out.
- 65 min
Rest a few minutes, then serve whole with rice, pirão, and extra banana farofa.
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