Salt Cod — Bacalao

Salt cod is very popular in Spain. The combination of having large stocks of cod off the Atlantic coast and a Roman Catholic Church proclaiming as many as three meat-free days a week meant the Spaniards became adept at cooking this dried fish. I really don’t think of salt cod as being fish. It has been transformed so much by salting and drying that, in my mind, it has become an entirely different ingredient. It is earthy at the same time as being of the sea. It is preserved yet lively and although considered the food of the poor, it can also make a decadent meal. A large piece in a dish can be the star of the meal but smaller pieces blended through a dish become a deliciously smooth background flavour.