One pound of salt cod

I had wanted to try salt cod ever since reading about it in one of James Beard’s books. The problem is, salt cod isn’t a common item on American dinner tables like it was at one time, and it can be quite hard to find. Now, I read about salt cod again in a Mediterranean cookbook I’m reading (The Essential Mediterranean, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins), and finally made an effort to track some down. I finally found some at a fish store in Essex Street Market in the Lower East Side. It came in one pound packages at $7/each.

I made two cold salads from the Mediterranean book (Spanish Salt-Cod and Red Pepper Salad, and Sicilian Salt-Cod and Blood Orange Salad). As a reference to those posts, here are the instructions from Essential Mediterranean for preparing the fish:

“To make either of these recipes, you will need about 8 ounces of salt cod-or a quarter of a 2-pound boneless fillet of dry salt cod. It’s not necessary to soak the entire fillet to get this. You can simply cut off what you need and wrap the rest in paper or aluminum foil to store in a cool, dry place for a couple of weeks. Don’t store it for longer than that; the cod tends to dry out excessively and shrivel. Cover the piece of cod with cool water and set aside to soak for 24 to 48 hours, changing the water every 6 to 8 hours. When the cod has lost its intense saltiness and is plumped with water, drain it and pat it as dry as you can with paper towels. Use a sharp knife to cut the skin off the fillet. Then shred the cod flesh, tearing it into thin strips with your hands-this is easier to do than it sounds because the texture of cod naturally lends itself to shredding. You should have about 1 cup of shredded salt cod.”

The revitalized cod. Be sure to cut the skin off.

Shredded for the salad

If you have trouble finding salt cod, try in a Latino market. They usually have dried fish, though not always cod. The ones in my area usually have salted pollock for about $3/pound. Not sure how it compares to cod but I’ll try it sometime.