Baccalà Mantecato | Dried Cod Mousse from Venice
The Quintessentially Venetian Antipasto
INGREDIENTS (serves 6)
500 g of dried cod (stockfish) in
Venetian baccalà (best if you can buy Ragno quality, the top quality
stockfish). In all Venetian recipes, Baccalà stands for dried cod (stockfish), not salted cod!
2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh bay leaf
salt
black pepper
a lot of extra virgin olive oil
DIRECTIONS
Cut the cod stockfish into pieces and
place them into a pan full of water.
Place in the fridge to soak. Change the
water twice a day for the following 2 days.
When ready drain the stockfish and
rinse it.
Open the pieces and try to remove the
skin, any guts and bones.
Place the pieces in a pan and cover
with some lightly salted water. Add a fresh bay leaf. And cook for
about 30 minutes.
Make sure to remove the foam which will
form when the water starts boiling.
After half an hour, remove the pieces
of stockfish from the pan and place in a container with deep sides.
Add 2 gloves of garlic.
Take a wooden spoon and start to mix
with real energy slowly adding the extra virgin olive oil. The
quantity of the evoo will depend on the capacity of absorbing of the
stockfish.
Carry on mixing till the stockfish will
turn into a nice and white mousse like sort of creamy sauce. Taste
and add salt if required.
Add some black pepper and use on
bruschetta or crostini or grilled slices of polenta.
The difficulty of this dish is the
mixing that can take up to an hour. To speed the process up you can
use an immersion mixer.
Buon Appetito!
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