Rouget de Roche Farci au Brocciu — Brocciu-Stuffed Red Mullet

Corsica — coastal rocky-shore tradition; island-wide where rouget de roche is available from the catch.

Rouget de roche — Mullus surmuletus, the striped red mullet — is Corsica's most prized inshore fish, caught from rocky substrates along the entire Corsican coast and valued for a flavour intensity that rivals any Mediterranean fish. The Corsican preparation stuffs the gutted fish with a teaspoon of fresh brocciu mixed with nepita, sea-mineral-salt, and lemon zest before wrapping in fresh fig leaves (or vine leaves where fig is unavailable) and grilling over wood embers or roasting in a hot oven at 220°C for eight to ten minutes. The fig leaf serves as both flavour vehicle and cooking wrapper: it imparts a subtle coconut-vanilla note from the fig's milky sap compounds, protects the delicate fish skin from direct flame, and creates a steam environment inside the parcel that keeps the flesh moist. The brocciu melts into the fish cavity during cooking, basting the interior with a dairy-lactic richness that amplifies the red mullet's inherent sweetness.

• Rouget grillé en feuille de vigne (Provence — vine leaf wrap parallel, no brocciu)
• Triglia alla Livornese (Tuscany — red mullet in tomato sauce, flavour contrast)
• Barbun sarmasigi (Turkey — vine-wrapped fish grill, technique parallel)

Intensely sweet-marine red mullet; brocciu dairy-lactic interior baste; nepita herb imprint; fig leaf coconut-vanilla top note; maquis grill smoke.