Grilled Salted Cod with Olive Oil/Bacalhau à Lagareiro

Given the ubiquitousness of salted cod (bacalhau) in Portuguese cuisine, this blog has admittedly few references to it so on to the task of remedying that with a classic dish from the centre of Portugal (Beiras region) – Bacalhau à Lagareiro. Lagar is the portuguese term for olive oil press and lagareiro referring to the worker of the press. This recipe, not surprisingly, is very much about putting the best quality olive oil (azeite) at the centre of the dish. Together with flavourful garlic and “punched potatoes”, this is one of those simple combinations of flavours and textures that is characteristically Portuguese. As with most bacalhau recipes the cod needs to be soaked beforehand. Soaked cod freezes well so you can soak a larger batch and  freeze individual tranches.

Bacalhau à lagareiro

Salted Cod Carpaccio/Carpaccio de Bacalhau

Raw salted cod salad goes under numerous names and variations in traditional Portuguese cooking. A constant is top quality olive oil which is essential to pretty much any cod dish. This recipe for carpaccio is stripped down to bare essentials and uses thinly cut slices of cod rather than the traditional hand shredded.

Salted Cod Carpaccio

Creamed Bacalhau/Bacalhau com Natas

One of the popular 1001 bacalhau (salted cod) recipes, this is certainly on entry level as far as eating salted cod is concerned. The flavour of the cod infuses the creamy sauce which in the oven forms a delicious gratin crust. This dish uses flaked cod so you don’t need prime cuts however, the better the cod the better the dish. This recipe uses fried potatoes but these can be replaced by boiled potato cubes though it is important that the whole thing doesn’t turn into mash so stay away from floury potatoes!

Salted Cod Ceviche/ Ceviche de Bacalhau

I’m not sure this is one of the 1001 ways of cooking salted cod (bacalhau) that the Portuguese brag about but here it is. It usually works for those on the opposite spectrum from boiled cod lovers and is a kind of variation of the traditional chick pea and cod salad (salada de grão com bacalhau).

Salted Cod (Bacalhau): Pre-soaking