To Boil Codfish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the codfish and clean the inside, especially the backbone.
Place the fish in a fish kettle and cover it with cold water mixed with salt and saltpetre.
Cook
Bring to a moderate heat, skimming off any scum that forms.
Boil gently until cooked: 20-30 minutes for medium fish, 30-45 minutes for large fish.
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, melted butter, or anchovy sauce.
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
- The main ingredient, cooked whole in gently simmering water until its flesh turns opaque and flakes.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the fish and water, and firms the flesh slightly as it cooks.
- Saltpetre
- Optional curing salt that helps keep the flesh firm and pinkish during cooking.
The step that matters
Boil gently until cooked. A rolling boil can break the delicate flakes of cooked fish and toughen the flesh. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer cooks the fish evenly and keeps 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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