The humble Bacalhau

If you spend any time in Portugal you will soon run into this cornerstone of traditional cuisine. It’s cod, it’s preserved in salt, it's dry, it’s delicious.

May 19, 2023

This week I feature the all-pervading ingredient in Portuguese cookery: the humble Bacalhau.

Salted Cod

Every supermarket in Portugal carries piles of this: on your first encounter, it’s a very unusual sight and looks like a big frosty white solid kite.

Traditionally, cod is served on Christmas Eve and there are allegedly over 1000 recipes to utilise this ubiquitous ingredient.

But first a little history.

The fish of champions

Cod, or Bacalhau, is largely associated with Portuguese cuisine.

To understand the importance of codfish in Portuguese history, we need to time-travel a few centuries into the past.

The Vikings are said to have first discovered the Gadus morhua, commercially known as cod. Since they did not have any salt to use, their method of preservation was to dry the fish outdoors until it lost almost a fifth of its weight and hardened up like a piece of wood. Once the process was complete, it would be eaten in tiny pieces on the long journeys they made across the oceans.

Cod in Portugal is known as the faithful friend and has been present since times of war to feed the people. In times of crisis and hunger, cod was the staple food that the Portuguese community could rely on. Over time, it has become a traditional dish for special occasions.

Maritime exploration

The consumption of cod in Portugal began in the 14th century when there were trade treaties between Portugal and England where the English traded salt in exchange for Portuguese cod.

The Portuguese maritime exploration is closely related to cod fishing in that epoch when, in the mid-1500s, Portugal started fishing for cod in Terra Nova (Canada).

Portugal dominated cod fishing until approximately the 16th century, when other countries, mainly England, gained prominence and a monopoly on this activity.

The large-scale consumption of cod only began in the 19th century since it was easy to preserve and transport to the interior of the country, unlike fresh fish. Thus it began to be adopted into the regular Portuguese diet.

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British monopoly

The supply of cod in Portugal was almost a monopoly of the British who were the main exporter of cod to the country when it was then called “English cod”. The Portuguese only began to venture into cod fishing from 1885 onwards with Companhia de Pescarias Lisboneses, a privately owned company but demand at the time meant that much still had to be imported.

The consumption of cod expanded exponentially. In 1934, Portugal fished only 11% of the cod consumed, rising to a maximum peak in the 50s and 60s to around 70 / 80% of total cod consumed!

World War II

During World War II Portugal was a neutral country and therefore did not cease it’s cod fishing activities.

The story has it, when crossing the Atlantic Ocean, that two Portuguese cod-fishing ship, Maria de Gloria and Delães, were sunk by submarines. After that tragedy, ships started to be painted white with the name and nationality well visible, thus becoming known as the white fleet. This agreement with the Allies made it possible for Bacalhau to circulate in the Atlantic Ocean without being affected.

Modern times

Nowadays, things have changed and 70% of the cod consumed in Portugal comes from Norway. The Portuguese consume 20% of the world’s cod and is famous for having a recipe for each day of the year.

Our Bacalhau journey

Suzy and I moved to Portugal back in October 2020 and enjoy the very cost-effective Prato do Dia (menu of the day).

Regularly the menu will contain a dish based on the mighty Bacalhau and so far have tasted around 35 of the recipes: Bacalhau à Brás, Bacalhau com Natas, Bacalhau à Lagareiro are particularly delicious.

If you want a bar snack with a mini (that’s a colloquialism for a 20-25cl Cerveja) or glass of Vinho Tinto, a Pastéis de Bacalhau (a small deep-fried cod-cake like a croquette) is the way to go.

With friends

At Christmas, New Year, birthdays and general celebrations - and there are a lot here - we have been honoured to have been invited to eat at the homes of our new friends where, inevitably, Bacalhau is on the menu.

Next week we are having the third real holiday of our 10 years together and are meeting up in the Algarve with our family; James, Joseph, Christina and our three-year-old granddaughter Emma.

I thought it would be a great chance to introduce them to Bacalhau and decided to consult an expert in the preparation of the meal.

Enter Luis Cruz, hereinafter referred to as the Brigadier of Bacalhau.

Luis is the father of our great friend and ace graphic designer, Tiago, who we met with his amazing partner Dani not long after we arrived in Samora Correia and just happens to be designing all the 2023 marketing materials and album cover for our band Starlite & Campbell.

We have eaten with the family many times and I asked him for some advice as to the best way of proceeding.

Stage one: buying

As I mentioned earlier, all supermarkets carry Bacalhau but which ‘cod-kite’ to buy? I asked Luis to accompany me to our local Pingo Doce supermarket to help select a suitable specimen.

We were in luck that day as the salted cod happened to be on offer at €12,16 a kilo with a whole fish enough to feed around 12 people. Luis tells me the yellower the fish the better - apparently the colour has something to do with the salt and/or the process they use. Also, it needs to be totally dry - you don’t want to be paying for the water!

Luis asked the person at the fish counter to cut this up for us - a swift process using a very fierce-looking mechanical guillotine. I checked how many fingers the lady had who undertook this dicy operation; miraculously a full compliment.

He asked for the ‘wings to be cut off and then the thickest section (around the backbone) to be cut into lombos (literally translated tenderloin) around 50mm wide.

Nothing is wasted here and am looking forward to finding our what we do with the unsightly offcuts.

Stage two: soaking

I was instructed to soak all the cod in a large container placed in a refrigerator, changing the water twice a day. On day three he suggested I taste to check if it needed more soaking which I dutifully did - perfect. No more soaking, just refrigerating until…

Stage three: cooking

The day has arrived! Luis arrived at our home at 1100 and following an inspection of the ingredients, found we had no potatoes, an ingredient crucial to the dish.

We whipped out into Samora Correa to buy some from a street seller - the most economical way - but as it was The Day of the Workers in Portugal (May Bank Holiday in the UK) none were about and resorted to the more expensive option of Pingo Doce.

Watching the Portuguese inspecting vegetables is an education in itself and although Luis’s preferred variety was unavailable, he selected some batatas vermelhas (red potatoes) which are apparently too waxy, but in my humble opinion ended up being delicious in this dish.

When we arrived back we offered him a glass of vinho verde wine which he declined: a little too early. Instead of imbibing, he inspected the codfish, nodded in approval and went outside to peel the spuds.

Stage four: lunch with the Cruz’s

In typical Portuguese style Luis decided to prepare four dishes with the Bacalhau:

Bacalhau guisado popular molhata - with potatoes
Bacalhau com arroz - with rice
Punheta de Bacalhau (known as a codfish hand job - yes, you read that correctly) - raw with tomatoes and coriander
Torricado de Bacalhau - charred on the BBQ with toasted bread

Rather than detail the actual recipes, we thought it would be fun to record a video of the preparation and consumption!

And finally…

If you haven’t read it already, spend a few minutes catching up with where I am up to on the cookery front with this short article on the Mediterranean diet.

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Nearly 10 years ago Suzy became part of my life. Choosing to study woodwork at school as opposed to indulging in the culinary arts, at home she DIYs, designs, decorates and gardens. The cooking is up to me. Prior to getting together I never cooked regularly, but as my waistline often illustrates, I have always loved food, not just for sustenance but for …

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I hope you have enjoyed this article and will tell you how our Anglo-German family got on with the dish in the upcoming weeks.

If you have a recipe or have eaten Bacalhau in a great restaurant, please share your story with me.

Next week it’s over to Suzy.

Working on: New material for the new album Starlite.One - which is now available to pre-order.
Listening to: The Next Day - David Bowie.
What’s cooking: Bacalhau of course!