This Trinidadian Recipe Unites Three Generations of Mothers
I couldn’t get the gift link to work, but maybe later.
I agree about the octopus, but maybe for a different reason. I knew they were really intelligent creatures, but after watching “My Octopus Teacher”, I will never ever knowingly eat octopus again.
I actually cried at the end, and if you knew me you’d know that it was totally out of character.
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I read The Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery published in 2016. National Book Award finalist. Fascinating read. I could never bring myself to eat one.
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I’m going to try to cook the cod in oil via sous vide
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Before the bath
These are stovetop directions
“. Simmer, covered, until cod is tender and flakes easily with a fork, 20 to 30 minutes. (If your fish is very thin, check after 15 minutes.) Transfer cod to a medium bowl; gently flake into bite-size pieces…”
Any suggestions for temp or time?
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The salt cod in oil sounds really good.
I managed to buy a few tins of grilled salt cod in olive oil on a visit to Portugal, which we’ve been enjoying in this salt cod and chickpea salad. (Plenty tasty without the hard-boiled egg.) This recipe calls for shredding the cod by hand, which resulted in a pleasant texture.
Enjoyed the convenience of the tinned stuff, but haven’t located product here in the U.S. as reasonably priced. If I do I will share the source.
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Thank you!
I just ate a can of salt cod and chick peas this weekend! I I am not sure where I got them, nor of the language on the label, and was surprised to see the chickpeas in there, but really enjoyed it.
ETA I got it in Portugal!
Do let me know if you find it here
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Both Spain and Portugal make extremely high quality ready to eat canned Sea Food Products (Conservas)
You can find them online at places like “La Tienda” or “Portugalia Marketplace”
Also locally at “Spanish Table” in Berkeley, SF or Mill Valley.
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I just realized I hadn’t shared these salt fish memories from last year’s stay in Brooklyn on this thread.
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Sous vide salt cod , using the recipe up thread for poached in olive oil.
A little salty, but otherwise the flavor and texture is perfect! I have kept in sealed in the sous vide bag.
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Looks good! What’s happening to it next?
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My goals this month included more salad and more fish.
Tonight, c/o @Presunto
I have no watercress, but plenty of oranges and olives, although I want to use green olives. I will use some of the purple ones DIL left when they returned to Turkey last week.
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If it is too salty, maybe you could leave it in water for longer? And also change water a few times. I sometimes leave my salt cod for 48 hours in water before cooking.
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That looks delicious!
And as you note, salt cod takes a LOT of changes of water to get the salt down to a reasonable level. And each change seems to work best if it is over 2 hours. I rinse the salt cod under the sink faucet around 7pm, then put it in a deep bowl of water after I have washed up from dinner, then change it around 10pm, then again around 8am and again around noon, before starting to prepare the dish (usually bacalao) around 5pm. And I still have a bit more salt than I like.
After soaking it so long, I thought the cod would be a soggy mess but if you can see the detail in this photo of my bacalao before it went in the oven, the cod is still pretty firm. But it is usually still pretty salty. I have always put olives in my bacalao but I may try it without olives once to see if that will take the edge off the salt level.
It isn’t time consuming so much as it has a long lead time.
On edit: I keep my soaking salt cod in the fridge over night. Is that part of my salt problem? Would it work better on the counter for the first long soak? After most of the salt is removed I would want it in the fridge, but when the cod still has a lot of salt maybe it would “de-salt” better at room temperature?
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Thank you @damiano !
That looks great @ZivBnd ! I put my soaking cod in the refrigerator.
I usually do three or four changes over 24 hours and I’m usually more worried about it not being salty enough for our taste!
In retrospect I realize it’s hard for me to appreciate the level of salt before any cooking. I’m guessing cooking it in oil, rather than water, may have contributed to the final saltiness as well.
It’s too late to soak what I’ve cooked in olive oil longer, but I think it will be perfect in dishes finished with other ingredients, like fritters. I might even try adding potato!
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I made a variation of this “souse” one with the sous vide salt cod today, and it was right up my alley!
My “variation” used roasted rather than fresh peppers and tomatoes, since those were in the freezer, and diced radishes didn’t work so well flavor wise as a crunchy element.
Reminds me of the Trini Bujol described above., but not sauteed and the bakes are a little different.
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I think it just needs more exchanges of water, I don’t think room temp would affect it much.
Some salt cod could be much more heavily salted than other salt cod, too.
Some recipes have the salt cod soak in milk. I don’t know if milk would draw out the salt differently than water.
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