Bacalao: Easy, Stinky, Delicious
AKA Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá?
So back when we visited Norway, Jarrod became obsessed with the idea of preserved salt cod that’s hard as a plank and lasts forever. (We learned a lot about the Hanseatic League that trip.) Naturally, once we got back home, he had to try some salt cod for himself. He ordered a preserved fillet off of Amazon, and we stuck it in the pantry for just the right time.
And then we forgot about it. We moved with it. It started to stink. We wrapped the unopened package in a garbage bag and shoved it back further, trying to ignore the smell.
Finally, something in me broke. I had to make that stupid salt cod, or throw it away. I found a recipe, held my breath, and unwrapped my way down to that fillet, layer by layer. And I also did a lot of Googling about how long salt cod lasts/how to tell if you’ve got a fillet that’s gone bad.
The verdict was…inconclusive. So I decided to ignore the stank further and just cook it up. If the bacalao was edible, then it would be a win.
So how did it turn out? Again…inconclusive. I was certain with every bite that I was feeding my family rancid fish and we would all be barfing it back up hours later. But the thing is, that stupid bacalao stew was SO GOOD, in spite of the weird stinky flaky fish throughout.
Also SO EASY. Basically, you layer parboiled sliced potatoes with sliced onions, the de-salted bacalao, a buttload of olive oil, top it with some sliced hard-boiled eggs and olives, and then simmer the whole thing in a dutch oven until it melts in your mouth in a pool of oily deliciousness. A pool that’s also interspersed with weird and possibly rotten fish. Cool cool cool. The parboiling and hard-boiling is a bit of front-end work, but after that it comes together really quickly.
Anyway. Fast-forward to literally yesterday. I couldn’t stand not knowing if my bacalao fillet really was turned, so I ordered another one and decided to try the recipe over again.
The new verdict: prior to cooking it, the fillet smelled…still stinky but not off? If that makes any sense at all? And as far as how the bacalao tasted: still incredible, slightly less stinky. So what I’m thinking is that the previous fillet was just, shall we say, aged. Not bad. Just a bit stronger, because of how long it had been sitting in my pantry.
All this to say: order yourself a salt cod fillet. You can pick one up on Amazon, or wherever else you want. Here’s the recipe I used. Enjoy the fishy, briny deliciousness.
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