The following recipe is from JENARO PILDAIN

JENARO PILDAIN Of the Restaurant Guria in Bilbao is considered one of the masters of pil pil. His technique is unusual in that he cooks the fish directly in the oil and not in water beforehand. Pildain learned pil pil from his mother, who had a country inn in the 1930s, and her technique may date back to the original pil pil sauce, since the recipe begins that way and then develops into the ligado sauce.

 Recipe Requirements

 Notes and Hints

 Clean the fish. Cut the gurnard in slices. Fillet the rascasse. Keep the bones.

 Saute the chopped onions, minced leek, and chopped garlic in olive oil for 15 minutes; add the heads and bones of the fish and cook slowly. Add the tomatoes, crushed, the wine, a quart of water, the bouquet garni, and pepper.

 Soak the salt cod for between 56 and 44 hours. During this time, change the water every 8 hours. Taste to see zf this period of time has been long enough for the fish to be perfectly desali-nated. Remove the desalinated salt cod from the water and let it drain. Scale it well and remove the bones. Then place it skin side up in an earthenware casserole with abundant olive oil and garlic over a low flame, removing the garlic when it has been browned. If the salt cod is top quality, 5 minutes cooking will be sufficient. When done, remove the olive oil and begin to move the salt cod against the casserole in a circular rolling movement and add, little by little, the oil that was removed until the sauce is thick, ready to be served. Decorate with garlic that has been fried in oil and with sliced rounds of guindilla.

 Soak the salt cod for between 56 and 44 hours. During this time, change the water every 8 hours. Taste to see zf this period of time has been long enough for the fish to be perfectly desali-nated. Remove the desalinated salt cod from the water and let it drain. Scale it well and remove the bones. Then place it skin side up in an earthenware casserole with abundant olive oil and garlic over a low flame, removing the garlic when it has been browned. If the salt cod is top quality, 5 minutes cooking will be sufficient. When done, remove the olive oil and begin to move the salt cod against the casserole in a circular rolling movement and add, little by little, the oil that was removed until the sauce is thick, ready to be served.

Decorate with garlic that has been fried in oil and with sliced rounds of guindilla.

 Interest Note

 The sauce is often described as a "triumph" of Basque gastronomy, but it is a triumph that was born of defeat. Bilbao put up a determined resistance to the First Carlist War siege which was a disaster from which the Carlist cause never recovered. Bitter sentiments endured for more than a century, but bith sides recognised that the siege of Bilbao gave the Basques a great sauce.