Fermented Adriatic Fish – a Respectable Successor to the Salted Sardine Snacks

Salted sardines - a common but also a great Zadar delicacy

It is not uncommon that salted small oily fish, the primary fish of the Adriatic, the sardine and its similar cousin anchovy, have become a gastronomic icon of the coastal, Mediterranean part of Croatia. Ever since there was fish in the Adriatic, there has also been salted fish because rich surplus catches full of protein and other nutritionally valuable ingredients should have been preserved for days of hunger without fish and fishing. Salting was the most widespread method of preserving fish. Salted fish was one of the essential merchandise. There were almost no households and taverns in Zadar and Dalmatia that did not keep a barilo full of salted fish somewhere in a snug nook.

Even today, salted sardines are a typical delicacy of the coastal population, even though oversalted foods are avoided in modern gastronomy. Salted anchovy, which tastes more delicate than sardines, has gained international popularity and is one of the local fishing industry's important and esteemed export products. In Zadar restaurants, salted sardines and anchovies will often be offered as a starter, delicate sea prosciutto. 

Few people like the taste of salted fish because they think they are just eating fermented food. And in the long process of preserving fish with salt and brine, a solution of salt in water, the fish goes through a fermentation process, which prevents the raw fish from rotting and, after a rather long fermentation time, no additional processing is needed. Fermented foods are a standard part of our daily diet, but we associate this process more with vegetables or cereals. The "sourdough" bread itself is tastier and more digestible than ordinary bread. Pizzas based on the fermentation process, aged dough, like the famous pizza napolitana, stand out in quality from those made with a plain, quick bread. 

After learning a lot about fermented food and realizing its benefits, Zadar chef Saša Began decided to dedicate himself to it. He first experimented and later created new dishes from fermented foodstuffs in the seafood restaurant "Foša", where he is the chef, not from salted fish but from those that go through a long process of so-called dry fermentation in an ageing chamber (dry ager). This procedure is identical to that through which the best pieces of aged meat go. 

Foša - a restaurant which brings pleasure to all the senses 

Restaurant "Foša" has an over sixty-year-old tradition. From the beginning, its chefs had one clear idea: to offer their guests the freshest and best of the Adriatic Sea.  So even today, "Foša" follows the same culinary line, but several courses' menus and tasting menus are adapted to the latest gastronomic trends deeply rooted in tradition. Like the spacious restaurant terrace, which has its foundations in the sea and enjoys a fascinating view of the Zadar channel. And the elegant interior of the restaurant combines the traditional ambience of a tavern with recent design trends. The setting is absolutely fantastic and rightly so because the entire restaurant complex is located in a small fishing port in the heart of old Zadar, after which the restaurant got its name - Foša.

Surrounded by the sea and the 16th-century town walls, under the UNESCO protection, restaurant "Foša" was and has remained a place where all the senses enjoy. Your eyes enjoy the blue of the sea; ears find pleasure in the musical background of the sound of waves, and palates feel the benefits of the smell and taste of Mediterranean food and the best local wines. For all this, "Foša" has been high on all the top lists of the best Croatian restaurants for years, regularly on the list of "Michelin" recommendations and is a member of the prestigious international association "Jeunes Restaurateurs".

This year, Chef Saša has decided to supplement the heritage and reputation of the restaurant with fermented fish dishes. Thus, for a week or two, significant highest-grade Adriatic fish age in the restaurant chamber – greater amberjack and tuna, and a novelty, the Adriatic or sea trout that arrives from a farm Karlobag, and whose meat is irresistibly reminiscent of salmon. Began puts the thinly sliced pieces of such aged fish into a simple dish - sashimi. Of course, the influences of Asia and Japan have also blended into modern Mediterranean gastronomy, so the cuisine of "Foša" created several exciting fusion dishes. In this case, our chef poured over a line of finely sliced greater amberjack's fillets, a soy and orange ponzu sauce, and added sea urchin mayonnaise and wasabi. The result was a fresh and powerful dish because the original sea flavour of the fish was additionally concentrated and strengthened in the meat of the greater amberjack by ageing. With the excellent surlie maraština from the Zadar winery "Fiolić", this fermented sashimi is a spectacular summer surprise for even the most demanding gourmets.

Ancient Roman garum of chef Saša

With the fermented greater amberjack dish, chef Saša will surely serve hot focaccia with rosemary, made from the fermented, "sour" dough, whose fermentation process was stirred up by twelve-year-old starters. Then, it had to age for a full two days. So crunchy and light, this focaccia, for complete pleasure, would need only a few drops of top quality extra virgin olive oil. 

But you are in for a lot more surprise by our host Saša Began regarding making dishes of fish fermentations. In one of the tasting sequences, he will also offer the Adriatic aged trout on smoked potatoes. Here, he goes back far into history, all the way to Ancient Rome and the then gastronomic habits and debauched endless imperial and patrician feasts with orgies. He reconstructed the then inevitable fish sauce garum produced by the long-term fermentation of fish entrails and waste in a brine solution in amphorae placed in the sun. Many will describe garum as a condiment that brings the perfect umami to the dish, the fifth primary taste that carries a balance of flavours and gastronomic nirvana. 

Saša Began produces his garum exclusively from the shell and parts of the Adriatic scampi's head. These pieces are aged in a brine solution for up to three months, and the result is a potent salty sauce that is irresistibly reminiscent of soy. After all, soy sauce is also the result of fermentation.

The chef mixed this sauce with an equal amount of olive oil and poured this emulsion over the raw tail of a sizeable Adriatic scampi. The edible, lower part of the crab's head was seared briefly to get crispy chips as a chest for the tail's meat. At the bottom of the plate, he smoothed the Pag ricotta, the neutrality of which was raised to a higher level by a strong garum emulsion.

Are you equally ready for familiar and traditional, but also new and different tastes of Adriatic fish? What are you waiting for ?! Enjoy all this in the unique setting of the fantastic "Foša", in the heart of Zadar.