Salt Cod, Palm Sunday, and Dining like Vikings

Everything about this Ur-food brought an elemental satisfaction- the stinging, glittering crust of salt, the heft, the splayed, finned triangle of it. Salt cod come in fillets, and even in manageable hunks- but where's the fun in that? It's satisfying to handle- at first.... Rummaging through the cardboard box of whole bone-in split open coarse-salted dried cod to get the prettiest one, my hands started to sting- the salt was eating away at them. The produce manager came to help me with his gloved hands and I reached for a paper towel. He gave my fish a shake and slapped it on the scale- 2.75 K. I've had babies that weighed less at birth.

That nearly vintage copy of Gourmet is there for scale.

So long out of its icy waters but still formidable, the fish need plenty of finessing and a firm hand. There's salt everywhere. The only vessel large enough to soak it whole is the bathtub. Cutting it into portions makes it more manageable, and increases the surface area for the water to draw out the salt. Using a large serrated knife, remove the various fins.

Then divide the quite tough flesh into pieces, using a sawing motion that takes us right through the backbone, and the leathery skin. Our bone-in whole cod (considered the tastier choice- and the boneless fillets also are in fact often not) made a lucky 13 portions, which then were divided into two large bowls to give them room for soaking.

This was a very large cod- some of the pieces were quite thick, and it would need time to soak. Most recipe instructions recommend 24 to 48 hours to soak the bulk of the salt out of the fish. I had 36 hours until I would be needing it. A more effective soak can be achieved changing the water every six hours (as opposed to once or twice during the whole of the time), and before changing the water, I gave each piece a gentle massage to work the water through the meat. As the fish has been salt-cured I had no qualms trying it "raw" to test for saltiness. After 36 hours, the thick pieces were still quite salty. I chose the thinnest pieces for frying. I floured them, and dipped them in a batter of 250 g. 2 C flour, some salt, 20 ml/4 tsp. baking powder, and most of a bottle of beer. They need a long, slow fry. Given how thrillingly salty they still were, we needed a lot more beer than was in the batter.

I left the thicker pieces in fresh water overnight, then wrapped in individual portions for the freezer- there is enough for a least two more generous meals- in the oven with potatoes and tomatoes and garlic perhaps. It also makes a nice addition to a fish soup, where variety richens the broth. This fish hasn't been fresh for a long, long time anyway- the freezer does it no harm. In fact, de-salted cod is sold frozen for those who, like me, who have failed to allow enough time to get their salt-cod fry ready. Well, it's ready now- just in time for the sunny season of chilled rose and garlicy brandade.