Tambaqui na Brasa

Tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) is one of the most prized food fish of the central Amazon, fattened in the flooded forest on fallen fruit and seeds, and grilling it over coals is the everyday Sunday-lunch tradition of Manaus and the riverside towns of Amazonas. The whole-fish form butterflied along the spine is called tambaqui de banda; the rib section — costela de tambaqui — is so fatty and well-marbled that cooks began serving it as a dish in its own right. The method is indigenous and riverine in root: fish set over a wood fire, dressed with cassava flour and lime, long predating the refrigeration that now lets the city eat it year-round.

A whole split fish or a rack of ribs the length of a forearm, the skin blistered and charred from the coals, the cream-colored flesh underneath still juicy and faintly sweet from the fruit-fed fat. You pull it apart by hand at the table, scatter coarse farinha d'água over each piece so it crackles, spoon on the sharp cilantro-and-pepper vinaigrette, and chase it with fried plantain. The rib cut is the one people fight over — the most fat, the most smoke.

Tambaqui carries a thick layer of intramuscular fat from its fruit-and-seed diet, which is what lets it grill over direct coal heat without drying out — the fat bastes the flesh from inside as the skin chars. Slow heat off to the side of the fire, not searing flames, gives the smoke time to penetrate while the interior comes up gently; rushed high heat blackens the skin before the thick flesh near the spine is done. The coarse farinha d'água added at the table absorbs the rendered fat and adds crunch, and the lime-sharp vinaigrette cuts the richness the same way orange does for feijoada.