Baccalà Mantecato

Poached cod beaten with oil until it turns white and holds its shape on a spoon.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 1 kg salt cod, soaked 48 hours in cold water, changed four times, and the soaking water discarded
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 250 ml mild olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• white pepper
• grilled polenta, to serve

Method

1. Soak and drain the cod. Poach it in fresh water with the bay for 20 minutes at a bare simmer, then lift it out and KEEP A CUP OF THE POACHING WATER.
2. Take out every bone and all the skin while it is still warm. Cold, this is twice the work.
3. THIS IS NOT A STEW AND NOTHING IS BEING SAUCED. Mantecato means beaten, and what you are making is an emulsion: the cod's own gelatine takes up the oil the way an egg yolk takes it in mayonnaise, and the dish turns from grey-brown to white as it does.
4. Put the warm fish in a bowl with the garlic and beat it hard with a wooden spoon until it breaks into threads.
5. Add the oil in a THIN STREAM, beating continuously. Poured in fast it will not take and you will have oily fish in a bowl with no way back.
6. If it stiffens too far, beat in a spoonful of the poaching water. That is what the cup was kept for.
7. Stop when it is white, thick enough to hold a peak, and still just warm. Season with the salt and white pepper and serve on grilled polenta.

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 Italy · All recipes