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1
Place the semolina in a wide, shallow terracotta dish. Add salted water a few drops at a time. Work the semolina between the palms in a continuous circular rubbing motion — the incocciatura — until irregular pellets form throughout. No pellet should be too uniform; the roughness is the mark of correct technique. Continue until all the semolina is pelletised. Rest the couscous uncovered for 1 hour to allow the pellets to dry slightly before steaming.
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2
Prepare the fish brodetto in the lower chamber of the couscoussiera: combine the scorfano, merluzzo, and palombo with olive oil and the saffron-steeped water. Bring to a gentle simmer. The broth must be sufficiently deep and actively steaming before the upper chamber is set in place.
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3
Transfer the rested couscous pellets to the upper steaming chamber of the couscoussiera. Set the upper chamber over the simmering brodetto. Seal the joint between the two chambers completely with the flour-and-water paste, pressing it firmly around the entire circumference. No steam should escape at the seam. Steam for 45 minutes.
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4
Remove the upper chamber. Turn the couscous into the terracotta dish and work it with a drizzle of olive oil and a little additional salted water, separating any clumps with the fingertips. The pellets should feel distinct and slightly swollen, not clumped or pasty.
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5
Return the couscous to the upper chamber, re-seal with fresh paste, and steam over the brodetto for a further 30 minutes. Total steaming time is 75 minutes. The couscous is done when the pellets are fully cooked through — tender to the bite with no raw, chalky core — and carry the golden colour and scent of the saffron broth absorbed from below.
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6
Bring the couscous and brodetto to the table together. Mound the couscous in a wide serving dish and ladle the fish and its saffron-golden broth over and around it at the moment of serving.