Salt Cod

I've always wanted to try salt cod, especially after seeing Andreas Viestad cooking baccalao stew with the Norwegian sea wind whiffling through the steam.

Marketplace on Oakton carries huge, expensive slabs of it, but on a recent of my many forays to H-Mart, I found and bought a much smaller package, a couple of pounds. I looked around for recipes, and found a PEI staple I'm going to try eventually, just for following my heritage: salt codfish cakes.

Anybody have other suggestions?

You might want to try searching on the internet using the following variations:
bacala
bacalao
bacalo

I've long wanted to cook with bacalao but two things have stopped me.

-The price. Why is it so expensive for what was essentially a poor person's source of protein?

-Mrs Ramon ate it alot in childhood and associates it with occasional poverty, inept cooking skills, and saltiness.

I know I can whip a dish that Mrs Ramon would like (as long as I don't tell her what's in it initially). I will probably do something Cuban. Since she gives up meat for all of lent this would be an ideal time.

I'm watching this thread for advice and will post what I find.

-ramon

Ramon wrote:I've long wanted to cook with bacalao but two things have stopped me.

-The price. Why is it so expensive for what was essentially a poor person's source of protein?

The price is high because cod has been horribly overfished and there isn't enough to go around anymore. Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Brazil consume enormous amounts.

I love it, make it regularity, for example, on Christmas Eve and especially during Lent when I give up meat for the forty days of fasting.

An excellent place to buy it is at Graziano's; quality and price are very good:


On Graziano's:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=25595#25595

Antonius

Ramon wrote: Why is it so expensive for what was essentially a poor person's source of protein?

I agree - at H-Mart, my little package was $5.99/lb, but I think they had frozen for much less; however, always good to add another seafood to my lexicon...

I'm pretty sure I've seen salt cod at Caputo's, right in front of the meat/fish counter.

Real bacalao is expensive because it is essentially cod jerky. Cod, once a poor man's fish, is now pretty pricey. Shrinking a big piece of fish down into a small, salty piece makes it much more dear.

Caputo's is a fine source for real North-Atlantic salt cod that is not so old as to be ossified. I'd have some questions about what exactly the fish is at H-Mart -- not that they are misrepresenting anything, mind you, but there are many salted and dried fish, particularly in Asian markets.

Bacalao has a very strong and complex role in Southern European cooking, and an especially interesting (for me) place in the cooking of Latin America (probably also other former Iberian colonies in Asia and Africa). It was and remains a special thing that links Brazil, Cuba, etc. to the old country. I'd say it's a special occasion, luxury ingredient in much of Latin America, and has been for some time. I guess it's all relative, since the same has been true regarding things like canned fruit.

The classic Cuban prep is to mix soaked salt cod with chunks of potatoes, that have been first pan fried in olive oil, along with onions and garlic. Or one can make it "red" with a sofrito.

A basic Portuguese version is similar with chickpeas, onions and perhaps parsley.

Bacalao fritters/croquetas are common enough. And don't forget brandade.

I like my bacalao on the salty side, and I use it like anchovy to season other things, but many prefer for it to be completely rehydrated.

I'm sure this is a topic of great interest to Antonius, and I would like to see his thoughts on the best salt cod preps from Italy.

[Of course, while my computer slowly posted the above, Antonius was on it already.]

For those who hadn't been following, Mark Kurlansky's Cod : a biography of the fish that changed the world is one of the books "teed up" for the emerging LTH Book Discussion Group(s). Not sure when it will actually be the subject du jour, but watch that thread if you're interested...

Jeff,

I think it increasingly is a sort of special occasion dish in many of the cultures where it once was common fare. The Brazilians seem to be (or at least till recently were) especially big consumers of it, building on the already particularly heavy consumption of it in the colonial homeland, Portugal. I wonder if in Cuba itself they've been able to get it (or afford it) much in recent years...

*

Growing up in an Italian family, I got exposed to it prepared in various traditional styles... braised with potatoes and tomatoes and olives etc., fried, in salad... My mother made fish cakes with it too, which I really loved but don't make too often (last time I did so it was with leftover brandade I had made).

Frankly, it strikes me to be somewhat like tripe -- if you grew up with it, you probably like it. For those who haven't, there are some who do take to it but most folks seem to find at most only some recipes palatable, most less exciting or unappealing. Being salted and dried, the flavour is somewhat strong (some parts of the fish more so than others, some fish more than others). Even in places where it was a traditional dish for many, many centuries, now that fresh fish is available it is less in demand. Once upon a time, it -- along with salted anchovies and tuna sott'olio -- was the only fish available to people not living right near the sea.

Antonius

Growing up in a Russian/Jewish family, I, on the other hand, was exposed to it not at all. And am surprised to find Tony suggest that it is an acquired taste. I don't know...maybe it is, but I for one absolutely love it. It has become a real favorite of mine. I don't think I've had it yet in a preparation I didn't like, but I'm particularly fond of it in brandade (formally, brandade de morue), a (not-so-)poor man's fish cake, if you will. Mixed with mashed potatoes, good olive oil, a little milk or cream. The original belongs to Nimes, I believe. Over in Marseilles, they add garlic. Phooey; it don't need garlic. I absolutely love garlic, but it doesn't belong here. Salt, a little white pepper. Absolutely delicious.

PS If you're embarking on a web search, one other spelling you might try is baccala.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Growing up in a Russian/Jewish family, I, on the other hand, was exposed to it not at all. And am surprised to find Tony suggest that it is an acquired taste. I don't know...maybe it is, but I for one absolutely love it.

I love it as well and was never exposed to it in my youth. But, also growing up in an Eastern European Jewish family, I did grow up with a lot of exposure to salty, strong fish flavors (kippered fishes being very, very common at our Sunday breakfasts).

Best,
Michael

Good point, Michael. However, I was the infant switched at the hospital apparently. The number of traditionally Jewish dishes, including most of the fish of which you speak, was completely anathema to me as a child. It is only as I've gotten older that my interest has developed in some of these things. But your hypothesis strikes me as a good explanation for others.

GB,

I base that observation on reactions I've seen from people over the years. Also in Italian families where bacalà was a traditional part of the diet, I see younger folks turn their noses up at most or all preparations.

The most accessible preparation is surely brandade, where the dairy element and potatoes mellow out the flavour of the fish itself. It is a great dish, though. I happen to like it with garlic.

To my mind, baccalà, salt cod, is one of those basic ethnic markers. It is intimately connected in my mind with being an Italian (and I assume Spaniards and Portuguese, etc. feel that way as well). It is along with that a quintessentially Catholic ingredient; without it, proper fasting would have been for countless generations... well... akin to having to give something up.

Antonius

If anyone needs instructions for preparing salt cod for use, I just wrote an article on the topic for Hungry Magazine a couple of weeks ago. The article includes a recipe for Newfie Cod Cakes -- which are yummy. For a first-time user of salt cod, the info might be helpful.

http://www.hungrymag.com/2007/02/08/sal ... /#more-249

And here is also a brief history of cod on the same site, if you're interested in why it was important -- and why it is depeted.

Came across a strong opinion from Pellegrino Artusi in The Art of Eating Well, regarding frying salt cod:

"Damn to hell both the recipe and the person who wrote it"

Lincolnwood Produce has it too, although it was $8.50 a lb when I last bought it, probably the same as Oakton.

I've made fish cakes with it once, but for the price, prefer to do it with crab.

I was introduced to it as part of the traditional "Feast of the Seven Fishes" Italian Christmas Eve meal. None of my relatives would have spent the expense or time required to prepare it any other time during the year.

As a fish monger reminded me once, dried and salted products weigh LESS than the fresh product and therefore, you will pay a higher price for it.

kiplog wrote:Lincolnwood Produce has it too, although it was $8.50 a lb when I last bought it, probably the same as Oakton.

That price strikes me as a bit high, though quality is also an issue... and then, of course, there's also the convenience element...

Antonius

OK, here's my first foray into the world of Salt Cod.

Interesting how the oddest things will bring up memories: while changing the water during the soaking process, the smell of the soaking cod instantly transported me to my Grammy's kitchen - which, if not a place of good food, was a place of comfort and warmth; none of the prior or successive smells set anything off, but apparently I've eaten Baccalao before...funny, I was thinking of the preparations from a completely different hemisphere when I started out.

In honor of her, I followed the recipe on Epicuriouswhich was written by a woman from Souris, PEI - not far from her birthplace. It contains parsnip as well as potato (which, frankly, I couldn't detect in the final product) I also added savory, as suggested by Cynthia's recipe, and rolled the end product in panko.


The recipe had them sauteeing in a small amount of oil; I think they would have improved if fried like latkes (essentially, they're latkes with fish and breadcrumbs)


Final dish was served with TJ's prepared byriani, a sauce I whipped up quickly with odds and ends from the fridge (mostly horseradish, yogurt, and masago) and some garlicky greens. Sparky liked it so much that he requested it in his school lunch (maybe something to add to that thread, we'll see)


Definitely possibilities here - the fish is interesting, a little more al dente than fresh fish, but not mushy or fibrous as I'd feared. Interestingly (and this may be because you're right about the type of fish, JeffB - the fillets are awfully small) it didn't have much flavor, other than salt.

PS. Germuska, I've been meaning to read that book for over 6 years now! I'll keep an eye out.

Leite's Culinaria has published a nice recipe for Portugese cod and potato casserole (Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá) adapted from a recipe by chef Manuel Azevedo of LaSalette Restaurant in Sonoma, CA.

If you don't regularly keep tabs on Leite's Culinaria, it's an excellent site (and one you should definitely have in your RSS reader*).

Best,
Michael

* If you don't have an RSS reader, I'm of the strong opinion that you should start using one.)

I love that site! They often have recipes from other sources that you'd have to subscribe to. I'd planned to post it on the thread about recipe websites, but now I can't find it..

I think a salt cod casserole or stew is the next order of business....

For a party next weekend, I'll be trying to replicate the classic Venetian dish, baccala mantecato - essentially the same as brandade, with olive oil instead of cream or milk. I have to make quite a bit, and have lots of other things to do - so I'm wondering if anyone knows of a source of de-boned salt cod. Antonius's pictures of the stuff at Graziano's look great, but I'd rather go the less-work route if possible (unless I'm wrong about the ones in the picture having bones?). Suggestions?

an update- turns out Graziano's has baccala with and without the bones. I stopped in today for a couple of pounds, plus some cannellini beans and anchovies. Great store. NB: open to the public only until 3:30PM.

Where can one find dried and salted cod, if possible in real wood boxes?
I want to find some good quality one to make brandade .

Thread here. Graziano's is the place.

alain40 wrote:Where can one find dried and salted cod, if possible in real wood boxes?
I want to find some good quality one to make brandade .

A fair number of fish markets have them. Call ahead, though. I was at Dirk's recently and didn't see any. I am pretty sure The Fish Guy has them. Burhops definitely has had them.

I've used it to make a Jamaican soup with rice, spinach, okra, black eyed peas and bacon. Super tasty, heavy, and lasts for days. PM me if you want the recipe.

I've seen salt cod boxes at Treasure Island also. If you want a reliable online vendor then try La Tienda:

http://www.tienda.com/

Also the home of the $75 can (150g) of barnacles.

http://search.tienda.com/search.html?ke ... Col=submit

Thank you all for your suggestions

Sorry, late to the thread.

Lincolnwood Produce always has a good sized box back by the deli case. Good luck!

Lincolnwood Produce
7175 N Lincoln Ave
(between Fitch Ave & Kostner Ave)
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 329-0600