I’ve walked by those little boxes in Whole Foods, and sometimes the larger bins filled with baccala, and been intrigued. I also recently read the book “Cod” about how North Atlantic cod played a major role in economics and politics in Western Europe for hundreds of years. The catch, from Labrador and elsewhere on the grand banks, was salted for preservation and transport. One of my grandparents is from Newfoundland, and I have nothing but respect for the harsh conditions they endured, probably even worse for the European fishermen spending much of the year freezing aboard their ships.
Anyway, I found a Portuguese recipe for salt cod stew with potatos and tomatos and made it this weekend, after the requisite 2 days of desalinating the fish. It was a success, the cod was tasty, slightly chewy, not salty. Had I used fresh fish I believe the rigor of the recipe would have reduced it to a flaky mess, but the salt cod remained firm. The recipe used olives and capers, which can dominate the flavors if overused or overcooked, but in this case it worked just fine.
There’s not much effort other than forethought in getting the cod ready, but in the end I do think the fish played only a supporting role, this was not really a fish dish but a collection of flavorful ingredients. I’m game to try some fritters or a brandade next. My smart-ass son said he thought my Newfoundland ancestors would be rolling in their graves knowing that I’m eating salt cod, when I actually have a choice not to.
I’m assuming that all we have available is Icelandic cod, the fillets were not very big. I have heard the grand banks cod are slowly coming back, so one day…
