Salt Cod in Batter

Salt cod soaked for two days with the water changed six times, then fried in a beer batter and eaten with garlic sauce.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

For the fish

• 800 g salt cod, thick fillet pieces
• cold water, for soaking

For the batter

• 200 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 300 ml cold beer
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• black pepper

To fry and serve

• 1 litre flavourless oil, for frying
• skordalia, as on its own page
• lemon wedges

Method

1. TWO DAYS OF SOAKING WITH THE WATER CHANGED SIX TIMES, and there is no shortening it. Salt cod is preserved at a concentration that will take the skin off your tongue, and the salt comes out slowly from the outside in. A day and three changes leaves the middle of a thick piece inedible while the edges are fine -- and the only way to know is to taste a sliver from the THICKEST part, which is the step most people skip.
2. THE WATER IS CHANGED, NOT TOPPED UP, and the fish is soaked skin side UP so the salt falls away from it rather than back onto it. In the fridge, not on the worktop.
3. NO SALT GOES IN THE BATTER. Two days of soaking does not remove all of it and there is enough left in the fish.
4. Cod cut into pieces about the size of a palm. Rinsed under a running tap first to take the surface salt off.
5. Into a large bowl of cold water, skin side up, in the fridge.
6. Water poured away and replaced after 4 hours, then every 6 to 8 hours after that, six changes over two days.
7. TASTE A SLIVER FROM THE THICKEST PIECE before going on. It should be pleasantly salty, like a well-seasoned fish, not fierce. If it is still fierce, another change and another eight hours.
8. Drained and patted very dry. Any skin pulled off, and the fish checked for bones with the fingers.
9. Batter: flour, baking powder and pepper whisked with the COLD beer and the oil until just combined. Lumps are fine; overworked batter goes tough.
10. Rested 15 minutes while the oil heats to 180C.
11. Pieces dipped, allowed to drip for a second, and lowered away from you. Three or four at a time only -- a crowded pan drops the temperature and the batter soaks.
12. 4 to 5 minutes, turned once, until deep gold and crisp.
13. Drained on a rack and eaten at once with skordalia as on its own page and a wedge of lemon.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Greece · All recipes