Salt Cod Diary

[Chris Amirault]

Let's chart our frittering here. I have some pieces remaining that I think I'm going to cook and mash, somehow, tomorrow night.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Romy Dorotan, of Purple Yam (formerly Cendrillon on Mercer St. near Grand in Manhattan) does a really nice asian-inflected brandade, served over coconut-creamed spinach (like regular creamed spinach, but with coconut milk). I've made it from the recipe in Memories of Philippine Kitchens, the book he wrote with his wife and restaurant partner, Amy Besa.

[LindaK]

Chris, I'll need to soak more fish before I can make fritters. I'll be interested in your experience, I haven't made fritters of any sort in years.

David, that recipe sounds amazing. At first I thought "coconut milk?" then I thought "wow." The list grows.

[hansjoakim]

I live in Norway, and I'm a huge fan of salt cod, or klippfisk as it's called here. The name klippfisk comes from "klippe", which points towards the wind and water swept cliffs close to the sea, and "fisk" which is our word for "fish". Traditionally, the catch was salted and then dried in the sun on the cliffs, hence "klippfisk":

Click here for a B&W photo.

Sadly, the selection of salt cod in many parts of Norway is very limited. I guess this is in large part due to the fact that this kind of preserved fish has been looked at as a "poor man's food", or otherwise inferior to fresh fish. The best salt cod is exported to countries that know to appreciate this delicious food, i.e. Portugal, Spain, Brazil, France, Italy (stockfish) and Jamaica.

Luckily, there has been a slight revival of some of our traditional dishes the last couple of years, and it's quite easy to find high-quality salt cod loins in at least the more populated areas of Norway, in the western parts and in the North.

The loins that I usually prepare require between 3 and 4 days of soaking in cold water, with at least 1 refreshment each day. Personally, I'm not very enthusiastic about the tomato-heavy bacalao dishes, so I tend to prepare salt cod in pretty much the same way as ordinary white fish.

One very nice dish that I prepared for my parents this christmas, was a dinner with salt cod, sweet onion and garlic compote, pommes purée and steamed root vegetables with butter. For the salt cod, I tend to either brown the pieces in butter in a frying pan and then finish them in a 200dC oven (roughly 10 mins, until flaky and cooked through) or poach them in a bouillion or milk/water.

You can make a delicious starter from salt cod by poaching the fish, then flake it on a hot plate. Sprinkle with capers, sweet tomatoes, shallots, olives and herbs. Finish with some salt and pepper and a dash of olive oil.

Finally, regarding freezing salt cod: I would not freeze unsoaked salted cod. I've not tried it myself, but I've read that the salt crystals in the fish tend to degrade the meat when frozen. Soaked salted cod freezes very well, however. I very often soak cod for 3 or 4 meals every time, and simply freeze what I don't use within the first day or two. Treat fully soaked cod as you would any other fresh fish.

[ChrisTaylor]

Going to give salt cod a shot. Have a piece soaking in the fridge. Not sure what I'll do with it: leaning towards the salt cod/potato thing detailed earlier in the thread. I think Bourdain has a recipe for it, even.

[hansjoakim]

For more recipe ideas, The Norwegian Seafood Export Council actually has a decent collection of salt cod recipes on their web page. Sadly, very few are translated to English, but the Google translator tool does a decent job, I think. Here's a link to the recipe collection (via Google's translation tool).

Remember that all temperatures are measured in Celsius, and don't hesitate to ask if you need assistance with the automatic translation

Edited January 13, 2011 by hansjoakim (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Made salt cod & potato fritters tonight, following a few different recipes roughly.

I cooked the salt cod with some onion and black peppercorns:

The cooked fish:

250g of skinned, boned fish flaked into pretty big chunks, with about 350g boiled and riced potatoes, 1/4 c or so of minced onion, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, and two beaten eggs:

Fried them in 375F peanut oil:

A few of the final products:

I was going to make some allioli to go with it, but it was clear that no one wanted more than a bit of lemon juice. The photo doesn't capture how earthy and wonderful they were, served with a potato & leek soup and garlic ginger carrots.

We'll be making these again, and more salt cod for sure.

[David A. Goldfarb]

That looks really appealing, Chris. Nice photos, too!

[ChrisTaylor]

Chris: reckon those fritters (which would no longer be fritters, I guess) would pan-fry okay?

[Chris Amirault]

Think so, sure. You might want to coat them in panko or something just before they hit the pan.

You'll want to adjust the fish:potato ratio to your liking. I was following that Norwegian recipe at first but 250:200 seemed insufficiently potato-y.

[LindaK]

Chris, those fritters look fantastic. The addition of smoked paprika is inspired. I will give you full credit when I shamelessly plagarize the idea.

Finally, regarding freezing salt cod: I would not freeze unsoaked salted cod. I've not tried it myself, but I've read that the salt crystals in the fish tend to degrade the meat when frozen. Soaked salted cod freezes very well, however. I very often soak cod for 3 or 4 meals every time, and simply freeze what I don't use within the first day or two. Treat fully soaked cod as you would any other fresh fish.

hansjoakim, thank you for the history and for the web site, I see some good ideas there. As for the counsel against freezing, I hope that turns out not to be true, since I froze 2 lbs on the advice of the shop that sold it to me. I'm actually defrosting 1 lb now, and I'm treating it like other frozen fish by defrosting it slowly in the fridge. I'll report back on what the texture is like. But I love that you can freeze pre-soaked cod--imagine craving salt cod in the morning and cooking it the same night!

[Dianabanana]

Finally, regarding freezing salt cod: I would not freeze unsoaked salted cod. I've not tried it myself, but I've read that the salt crystals in the fish tend to degrade the meat when frozen. Soaked salted cod freezes very well, however. I very often soak cod for 3 or 4 meals every time, and simply freeze what I don't use within the first day or two. Treat fully soaked cod as you would any other fresh fish.

I'm inclined to believe this is true, since the truly dry dried cod I've had was better than the semi-dried frozen, but if so, then why in the world is most salt cod sold frozen in the US? It's infinitely more expensive to maintain it in a freezer. Perhaps the cost savings comes in not having to dry it so thoroughly?

[Chris Amirault]

When vice and I were cruising fish stores on the RI coast we were puzzled by an entire freezer section taken up with wooden boxes of salt cod....

[ChrisTaylor]

My first effort

I cooked the salt cod in some light stock and then shredded it with a couple of forks and mixed it into mashed potatoes (no fat was used when mashing the potatoes, I might add). Some fried-off diced onions and garlic are in there too.

This was my first experience with salt cod and I wasn't sure what to expect. When I smelt the just-cooked cod I was sure I'd hate it--there's something about that 'fishy' smell that I really don't like (see also: the smell of just-boiled/steamed crab). I kept the ratio of cod:potato pretty much on par with a few of the dip recipes I saw, although I didn't dick around with scales or any such thing. Indeed, I was in that sort of mood where a couple of pin bones slipped past me and wound up in the rissoles. Not good. The mixture seemed to hold together okay by itself but just to be sure I added an egg. It was then sticky enough to take on panko crumbs. The 'rissoles' were fried in a mixture of butter and olive oil.

They rissoles are okay. I don't know if I'd run off to buy three pounds of the stuff to muck around with, not at the price I paid anyway. I'm not sure of the quality of the cod--I just bought it at the local Italian deli, haven't seen it at too many places, so I've no idea if it's good stuff or crap stuff in the grand salty coddy scheme of salt cod. If I was to do them again I'd probably buy salt cod from elsewhere, just to see, and I'd look at maybe shallow-frying them in canola oil or something. Rolling them smaller, even, and serving them with a sauce--tartare, perhaps--and they could make for a decent canape. Maybe it's just because this isn't some nostalgic childhood thing for me but I do feel they need some sexing up.

[hansjoakim]

I'm inclined to believe this is true, since the truly dry dried cod I've had was better than the semi-dried frozen, but if so, then why in the world is most salt cod sold frozen in the US? It's infinitely more expensive to maintain it in a freezer. Perhaps the cost savings comes in not having to dry it so thoroughly?

Hi Diana,

That is weird. Dried, salted cod (clipfish) can be stored almost a year at refrigerator temperatures, so I don't see any reason for freezing the unsoaked product. Over here you can find frozen fully soaked clipfish in supermarkets, but these products are very expensive compared to the unsoaked ones. I've never tried the frozen, soaked version, as I find part of the charm is to do this yourself. Additionally, apart from saving money, I also like to be able to control the salt-level in the salt cod myself.

[LindaK]

ChrisTaylor, your fritters look wonderful so I'm sorry you didn't care for them. Salt cod can be an acquired taste, even among those of use who grew up with it. My sisters would never eat it as kids unless they could smother the cod cakes in ketchup (which is oddly good, btw).

If you decide to try again, maybe given them an extra day soak, some cod really needs it. I'd also suggest poaching it in a water/milk mixture--the milk really does mellow the flavor, which is why some people suggest soaking it in milk too. I've never seen a recipe in which it's poached in stock, I'm not sure what that would do to the flavor. As for the finished dish, you might be happier with a simple brandade or one of the gratins (either cream or tomato based sauces) where the cod is only a small part of the finished dish. Maybe someone else has ideas for best "first salt cod experiences" ??

As for the question of freezing it, it's not something I've ever done before. I did it this time because I had 4 lbs of salt cod sitting on my kitchen counter and as we all know, it has a certain odor. I wrapped it well, but even in the fridge it was still noticeable and I was afraid of other foods absorbing it. I tried the freezer to see if it would neutralize the odor, which it did. Ordinarily I only buy it as needed, so this was unusual. I don't know why stores would do it.

[Chris Amirault]

I'd also suggest using a lot more fat as a cooking medium.

One thing I remembered as I prepared the cod was that I really, really hate the smell of the cooked skin. I don't know what happens to it, but, man oh man, that's a familiar stink from way back when, and, iirc, my forebears didn't remove it when they prepared things. Yuck.

[ChrisTaylor]

It wasn't salty at all so I don't think that was the issue. The cod flavour wasn't offensive ... it just didn't excite me at all. It was very bland. In fact, I probably put too much potato, even though I've seen plenty of recipes with a roughly 50:50 ratio of cod:potato. That may have been part of the issue. The cod flavour just didn't stand up to the potato all that well--which is why I kicked around the possibility that maybe the cod was of poor quality.

Does poaching/soaking the fish in milk give it a milky taste at all? Silly question, perhaps, but I don't get along with the taste of milk.

[LindaK]

Poaching salt cod with milk makes the flavor milder and the texture more tender, which is why I usually don't do it. It was a good trick to know, though, when I baked the fillet above--it tasted much more like fresh cod that way.

From your description of your finished dish as bland, it sounds to me as if it needed salt. Really. Once the cod is well soaked and poached, you can't count on it to add salt to the other ingredients, especially anything quick-cooked. And potatoes always seem to need salt. So would not assume that your fish was of poor quality. To the contrary, I find that poor quality salt cod is always overly fishy flavored and salty, no matter how much you soak it.

I've been looking over my surprisingly large roster of salt cod recipes for something untraditional that would meet your criteria for something a little more "sexed up" and think I have hit on one. But since the cod's only been soaking since this morning and I'll be eating out tomorrow night, it will have to wait until Monday.

[ChrisTaylor]

Let me know how it goes.

I was leaning, initially, towards a Spanish recipe with a capsicum and paprika sauce ... but did the fritters instead because I was concerned the sauce would dominate the flavour of the cod.

[LindaK]

Chris, those sound like good flavors for salt cod, I hope one of these days you'll give it a try.

[ChrisTaylor]

I will. I try everything at least three times. In fact, I'll probably swing by the deli later this week and grab another 500 grams or so.

Edited January 15, 2011 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[djyee100]

Another possibility for salt cod, in a spicy tomato sauce with pasta. I discovered this one while flipping thru Rosetta Costantino's My Calabria cookbook last night. I haven't tried it, of course, but I'm curious about it.

The recipe is on Googlebooks, page 71. Here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=86R77RdzTj8C&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=costantino+spaghetti+with+salt+cod+spicy+tomato+sauce&source=bl&ots=vW5jHJJsc2&sig=rOslSufhwnhVKPDItxZuYuP3YmU&hl=en&ei=Zy4yTeOGDI64sAPNsoytBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

[LindaK]

Just a quick update with last night's experiment. I am looking forward to reading some of these recent recommendations.

So--ChrisTaylor wanted a sexy salt cod dish, and I’ve found one: “Salt Cod Cakes with Aioli” from Big Small Plates by Cindy Pawlcyn, Pablo Jacinto and Ernesto Jacinto. This recipe takes the classic cod cake and definitely makes it modern.

The cod is poached in water/milk made aromatic with spices, fresh ginger and jalapeno. Once cooked and flaked, it’s bound by a flavorful mashed potato mixture that includes fresh herbs (I used parsley and cilantro), scallions, jalapeno, onion, celery, and aioli. The finished cod cakes are breaded in panko and deep dried, then served on a salad and topped with a bit of aioli and a tomatillo-avocado salsa. I don’t have access to tomatillas this time of year so I improvised with some jazzed up guacamole.

These were fantastic. The flavors were vibrant and balanced, the crispy exterior a perfect foil for the chunky, creamy filling. The aioli and avocado toppings were gilding the lily, really, but a great match. And despite all that was happening, you could still taste the rich flavor of the salt cod. The cakes were good sized, so with the salad would be an excellent starter or light meal.

I’m still looking forward to trying other salt cod classics, but must admit that I’m already searching for an excuse to make these again. A bit time consuming but certainly special enough for company--even a salt cod novice!

[Peter the eater]

My mother was raised in Labrador, and salt cod n' brewis was a fairly regular dish. Salt cod and Purity-brand hard tack are fried together and served with fried salt pork fat back.

When I visit the in-laws at Conception Bay, Newfoundland they make us traditional fishcakes using salt cod.

For hundreds of years people in these parts would lay out the cleaned and salted cod on spruce flakes to dry in the sun and air. Cod is the reason why England made this place their 1st permanent colony in North America.