GustoItaliano

Baccalà all Fiorentina (Salt Cod)

Baccalà is salt cod sold by the slab, and you might think it an unlikely food to get excited over. But you'd be wrong, because well-cooked baccalà is a delight: Firm, slightly chewy, and not at all fishy in flavor. But very good, versatile, and easy to prepare too.

Italians import baccalà, and though most now comes from Norway, some hold that its roots lie with the Portuguese.

In any case, the traditional technique for producing high quality baccalà is to take cod from three to six feet long, spit them, salt them for about ten days, and partially dry them

Since it is salted, all baccalà requires soaking before it can be used. Salted baccalà comes 1/2 to 1-inch thick, in 3 to 6-inch wide slats that are 12 to 18 inches long (7-15 by 30-45 cm), and are white on the flesh side. The flesh should be pliable, compact, and not feel woody; you should try to select a piece of uniform thickness so it will soak evenly. To prepare it, rinse the salt off it and soak it in cold water for 12 or more hours, depending upon its thickness (refrigerate it in hot weather), changing the water 2-3 times daily. Once it has soaked skin it, pick out the bones, and it's ready for use.

Florentine style Baccalà, or Baccalà alla Fiorentina:

This is one of the basic recipes for baccalà and has an enormous number of variations. Artusi omits the wine, others add a half a minced onion to the garlic, and still others fry the fish separately and drain it thoroughly, adding it to the sauce at the last minute. No matter how you make it, it's good. To serve 4: