To Boil Codfish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the fish and clean the inside, especially the backbone.
Boil
Place the fish in a fish kettle and cover with cold water mixed with salt and saltpetre.
Bring to a moderate heat, skimming off any scum.
Boil gently until done: 20-30 minutes for medium size, 30-45 minutes for large.
Serve
Drain the fish and serve on a hot napkin, garnished with liver and roe.
Add tufts of lightly scraped horseradish around the edge.
Serve with oyster sauce or melted butter.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Codfish
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a moist, flaky texture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water and helps firm the surface of the fish.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the fish and gives it a firmer, cured texture.
The step that matters
Boil gently until done. Boiling vigorously toughens and breaks up the delicate fish flakes. Gentle heat cooks the fish evenly through to the centre while keeping it moist and tender.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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