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Salt codfish is widely used in Portugal in all shapes and forms. It’s no surprise, then, that there is a codfish soup recipe. Rarely found on restaurant menus, it’s dearly loved by country folks. It’s a poor man’s soup using water rather than fish stock. My recipe uses vegetable stock to maintain the traditional appearance of a clear soup yet with a more rounded taste.
Yield: 4 servings
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 lb salt cod, center piece (thick part), desalted, cut into 1 1/2 inches cubes
- 1 medium-size onion, whole
- 2 large potatoes, about 2 cups
- 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4 medium size eggs, poached
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro (coriander leaves) or flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- toasted bread to serve
- 450 g salt cod, center piece (thick part), desalted, cut into 4 cm cubes
- 1 medium-size onion, whole
- 2 large potatoes, about 450 g
- 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4 medium size eggs, poached
- 1 L vegetable stock
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro (coriander leaves) or flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- toasted bread to serve
Salt Cod vs Stockfish
Salt cod (bacalhau) is using a long-lived preservation method of salting. Traditionally special varieties of cod were used but due to overfishing, other firm flesh non-oily fish often serve as substitutes such as haddock, pollack, hake and striped bass. The traditional salting process takes three weeks. The fish are placed in large crates, covered with salt and turned over every 4-5 days so that they can absorb all the salt and lose excess water. The salt content absorbed by the fish during salting must exceed 18%. Modern methods, eschewed by the the slow food movement, inject the fish with a salt solution.
Stockfish, on the other hand, is cod dried in the sun on special racks for three months. It seems that its name derives from the Norwegian stokkfisk or from the Dutch stokvis, meaning “stick fish” or “fish dried on sticks”. Stockfish and bacalhau are often confused, especially in Italy where the famous Baccalà alla Vicentina dish uses stoccafisso (stockfish).
Preparation:
In a deep saucepan bring 4 cups (1 L) vegetable stock to a boil together with the whole onion and salt codpieces. Add more warm stock if necessary to barely cover the codfish. Reduce heat to a simmer and let the fish cook for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, peel and cube the potatoes. Plunge them in a bowl of cold water to avoid discoloration and set them aside.
Remove codfish and onion from water and save the broth. Pass the broth through a sieve and look for any fish bones if necessary. Add drained potato cubes to the saved broth and cook potatoes for about 10 minutes or until al dente.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté garlic gently stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes.
Return codfish to the saucepan with the vegetable-potato broth and add the garlic. Warm it up gently. Taste for salt and pepper.
Divide codfish pieces into 4 servings. Add 1 poached egg per serving on top of the soup. Drizzle it with the remaining olive oil and fresh cilantro.
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