Recipe Bakalar na bijelo (Salt cod white stew)

This is very interesting. There's a lot more going on here than just a humble fish stew. I appreciate the explanations from Orangeapron, too. But, I'd like you opinion on why you start with salted cod, soak it for 3 days, changing the water as you go. Is this to get the salt out of the fish and restore it to a pre-salted state? It seems that fresh cod could be used, and you could make the stew tonight rather than soaking it.

If that's the case, then I can understand how it evolved: you can keep the salted cod on-hand (basically indefinitely), and then make it without having to locate a fishmonger.
 
Timenspace said:
Well thank you!

Oh yes! Like this one, I use ground (molido), and you plan to use flakes(hojuelas)? These are of Google translate, they might be wrong😁

Ah the smoked aroma is so attractive...a little bit dark...and it goes into two directions, the paprika scent and the smoked...View attachment 61187
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Yes, exactly,that is the step just before it gets made powder. Yes, flakes translation is "hojuelas" or "copos". Cod loves paprika, as it also loves olive oil.
 
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The Late Night Gourmet said:
This is very interesting. There's a lot more going on here than just a humble fish stew. I appreciate the explanations from Orangeapron, too. But, I'd like you opinion on why you start with salted cod, soak it for 3 days, changing the water as you go. Is this to get the salt out of the fish and restore it to a pre-salted state? It seems that fresh cod could be used, and you could make the stew tonight rather than soaking it.

If that's the case, then I can understand how it evolved: you can keep the salted cod on-hand (basically indefinitely), and then make it without having to locate a fishmonger.
Click to expand...

You could indeed make this with fresh cod but it wouldn't be quite the same. The salt cod has a firmer texture and is not really like flakes of fresh cod. It also has a different flavour. Salt cod is popular in the Caribbean, Africa and in parts of Europe and originally was originally developed for its portability and long life.

The soaking is to remove the salty taste and partly reconstitute the cod.

The salt cod I bought has a remarkably long shelf life. This means that it becomes a 'store cupboard' ingredient. Also, fresh cod takes a very short time to cook (minutes really) so the timings in the recipe would be much altered. Also, fresh cod wouldn't produce the delicious 'stock' in which the potatoes are cooked.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
This is very interesting. There's a lot more going on here than just a humble fish stew. I appreciate the explanations from Orangeapron, too. But, I'd like you opinion on why you start with salted cod, soak it for 3 days, changing the water as you go. Is this to get the salt out of the fish and restore it to a pre-salted state? It seems that fresh cod could be used, and you could make the stew tonight rather than soaking it.

If that's the case, then I can understand how it evolved: you can keep the salted cod on-hand (basically indefinitely), and then make it without having to locate a fishmonger.
Click to expand...
I only saw this post now...In my non-expertly opinion, the salt cod is as you kniw as is, wood-hard. Probably traditionally the only cod version available here (Croatia)...
Assuming fresh cod would work very very well!

Oh yes, MorningGlory explains it much better!💙
 
Morning Glory said:
You could indeed make this with fresh cod but it wouldn't be quite the same. The salt cod has a firmer texture and is not really like flakes of fresh cod. It also has a different flavour. Salt cod is popular in the Caribbean, Africa and in parts of Europe and originally was originally developed for its portability and long life.

The soaking is to remove the salty taste and partly reconstitute the cod.

The salt cod I bought has a remarkably long shelf life. This means that it becomes a 'store cupboard' ingredient. Also, fresh cod takes a very short time to cook (minutes really) so the timings in the recipe would be much altered. Also, fresh cod wouldn't produce the delicious 'stock' in which the potatoes are cooked.
Click to expand...
So, a specific taste and texture is created during salting and drying, and then released in the soaking and cooking...
Gorgeous!
 
Morning Glory said:
You could indeed make this with fresh cod but it wouldn't be quite the same. The salt cod has a firmer texture and is not really like flakes of fresh cod. It also has a different flavour. Salt cod is popular in the Caribbean, Africa and in parts of Europe and originally was originally developed for its portability and long life.

The soaking is to remove the salty taste and partly reconstitute the cod.

The salt cod I bought has a remarkably long shelf life. This means that it becomes a 'store cupboard' ingredient. Also, fresh cod takes a very short time to cook (minutes really) so the timings in the recipe would be much altered. Also, fresh cod wouldn't produce the delicious 'stock' in which the potatoes are cooked.
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Fresh fish is readily available here. Even in supermarkets, the quality is generally excellent (Detroit is in the Great Lakes region). Finding salted cod is actually harder than finding the fresh variety.

Having said that, my next culinary adventure will take me to Croatia! I will buy some today. And, whatever I don't use for the recipe can be used in a recipe next year sometime. :laugh:
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
Having said that, my next culinary adventure will take me to Croatia! I will buy some today. A
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That sounds great! It is a fish that survived on menus for 12 centuries...I was amazed reading about it...
To us, it always has that festive athmosphere...
I will research the Great Lakes...
 
05D0D0B5-2F97-4346-8BF7-FEF2B8861A72.jpeg


Phase 1 is underway.
 
Timenspace said:
That looks like a very good piece of cod! Looks softened already...
My previous mental image was always this dried stick version. It runs at 35 Usd per kg.
View attachment 61272
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That's close to what I paid for mine (17 USD/pound; 37USD/kg), but I went to a fish market because I wanted better quality (and because I have an excellent one near my house). I can get it much cheaper if I go the the frozen section of some supermarkets (10 USD/pound, and as low as 5 USD/pound), but I expect to get what I pay for if I do that.
 
Timenspace said:
That looks like a very good piece of cod! Looks softened already...
My previous mental image was always this dried stick version. It runs at 35 Usd per kg.
View attachment 61272
Click to expand...
I was wondering about this picture and the salt cod I saw when I watched some Croatian videos doing some research about this recipe. The salt cod appeared too dark and too dry to me, well, the word I readed here: "stick".
Here we have a "whiter" and softer salt cod, not that dark nor dried. So I was doing a little research about it, and found that there are some differences about the duration of the process, I readed that there are countries where the salt cod is liked more cured,so the process is longer and it becomes darker and stiffer. In the other hand, salt cod is prefered in other countries (like mine) whiter and softer so the process is shorter.
In this link below, you can see the appearance and presentations of salt cod here.

Bacalao Faroe calidad extra
 
Orangeapron said:
, I readed that there are countries where the salt cod is liked more cured,so the process is longer and it becomes darker and stiffer. In the other hand, salt cod is prefered in other countries (like mine) whiter and softer so the process is shorter.
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Oh how stunning! I will read the link...so does this indicate that the cod is transported to the country and then salted?/cured?
I always imagined it was imported as is...
Or maybe there are different processes from different factories/producers and they have their customers?
That is very interesting!!
 
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