Baccalà

Baccalà is codfish that has been dried in the wind of the cold and icy north and then preserved under salt. Confusingly, stoccafisso, stockfish, which is also cod, is called baccalà in Vicenza, although it is dried by being exposed to the sun. Both must be soaked in multiple changes of water over a period of 2 to 3 days, but baccalà is much easier to work with than stoccafisso, which looks like a stick ideally suited to disciplinary purposes. I like to buy boxes of ivory-colored baccalà fillets which are all the same size and thickness. Of course, you can also use fresh cod for the recipes asking for baccalà. Only people whose childhood memories are suffused with the rituals and flavors of baccalà would object.