Marron/fermented cucumber/pil pil

By: Aaron Turner
From: Igni
Serves: 4
Photographer: Julian Kingma

Like most of the food at IGNI, this is a combination of three relatively simple things brought together on the plate. The pil pil delivers an amazing, rich flavour but can be made with very little effort, the marron are a go-to ingredient for us as they react incredibly well to the fire, while the fermented cucumbers are something I always have around– they have a lovely lactic, salty-sweet balance, a nice crunch and pack enough flavour to stand on their own as a snack.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
4 x 250g	marron
100g	clarified butter

fermented cucumber

Quantity	Ingredient
60g	rock salt
2	garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 bunch	dill, roughly torn
10	baby cucumbers, washed

pil pil

Quantity	Ingredient
1.5kg	snapper bones, cleansed and dried
500g	butter, diced
500ml	fish stock
	salt

Method

For the fermented cucumber, dissolve the rock salt in 2 litres (68 floz/8 cups) of water in a very clean bucket or container. Add another 6 litres (204 floz/24 cups) of water, stir well and leave to come to room temperature, then add the garlic, dill and cucumbers and cover with muslin. Leave to ferment at room temperature for 6–12 days.

For the marron, bring a large pot of water to the boil, place the marron in the water and leave for 10 seconds or until the shell begins to turn red. Remove from the pan and plunge straight into a bowl of iced water. Remove the head from the tail by twisting the two in opposite directions. Using scissors, cut along the underside of the tail, carefully peeling the shell away from the meat. Brush with the clarified butter.

Preheat the oven to 140ºC (275ºF/Gas 1). To make the pil pil, arrange the snapper bones on a tray with the butter and roast for 90 minutes. Pass the melted butter through a fine sieve, discarding the fish bones, and add to a heavy-based saucepan together with an equal amount of fish stock. Cook for 15–20 minutes over a low heat until the mixture emulsifies, then pass through a fine sieve and season with salt. Keep warm.

Place the marron onto a grill over a fruit wood fire and gently roll around until the flesh starts to set. Remove from the heat and carve. Serve with the pil pil and cucumbers, sliced into quarters lengthways.