Seafood
Stockfish
Also called stoccafisso
Cod dried whole in the wind, without salt, until it is as hard as wood. In Venice and the Veneto it is called baccalà, though elsewhere in Italy that word means salt cod.
Origin
Norway's Lofoten Islands, traded to Italy for centuries.
Flavour
Deep and savoury once soaked, with a firm, flaky texture and a clean sea flavour.
How to use it
Soak it in cold water in the fridge for two to three days, changing the water twice a day, then poach it. Beat it with olive oil for baccalà mantecato.
Storage
Dry stockfish keeps for months in a cool, dry place. Once soaked, refrigerate and cook within two days.
Recipes using it
Baccalà mantecato
Venice's whipped stockfish: dried cod soaked for days, poached and beaten with olive oil and garlic into a fluffy cream, served on grilled polenta.
Medium
Egusi soup
Nigerian melon-seed soup with palm oil, beef, stockfish, crayfish and greens, eaten with pounded yam.
MediumHot
