Cod can be preserved by salting, drying, or both. Salted and dried cod is usually called salt cod; cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is called stockfish, and has its own article. Salting is the preparation of food with salt. ... Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water, which is required for decay and the growth of microorganisms. ... Stockfish is air-dried cod. ...

Salt cod is produced in Canada, Iceland, and Norway. It is sold whole or in portions, with or without bones.

The production of salt cod dates back at least 500 years, to the time of the European discoveries of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. It formed a vital item of international commerce between the New World and the Old, and formed one leg of the so-called triangular trade. Thus it spread around the Atlantic and became a traditional ingredient not only in Northern European cuisine, but also in Mediterranean, West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines. The ingredient and the dishes made from it are known under names related to these cultures, for example baccalà (Italian), bacalhau (Portuguese), bacalao (Spanish), morue (French), and klippfisk/clipfish (Scandinavian). Map showing the Grand Banks Historic map of the Grand Banks. ... For other uses, see Newfoundland (disambiguation). ... Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, c. ... The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively known as Africa-Eurasia), plus surrounding islands. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... See the individual entries for: Austrian cuisine British cuisine English cuisine Scottish cuisine Welsh cuisine Anglo-Indian cuisine Modern British cuisine Belgian cuisine Czech cuisine Danish cuisine Dutch cuisine Finnish cuisine French cuisine Basque cuisine German cuisine Hungarian cuisine Icelandic cuisine Irish cuisine Italian cuisine Cuisine of Sicily Lappish cuisine... External links Mediterranean cuisine guide and recipes Categories: Stub | Mediterranean cuisine ... Sample food of Zimbabwe Cuisine of Africa reflects indigenous traditions, as well as influences from Arabs, Europeans, and Asians. ... Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of Spanish, French, African, Amerindian and Indian cuisine. ... Baccalà is Italian for dried, salted cod. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The North Germanic languages (also Scandinavian languages or Nordic languages) is a branch of the Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the Faroe Islands and Iceland. ...

Traditionally, salt cod was dried only by the wind and the sun, hanging on wooden scaffolding near the seaside. Today it, and other dried fish such as stockfish, are mainly dried indoors by electrical heating. Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water, which is required for decay and the growth of microorganisms. ...

Names

The Romance name bacalao and its variants are of unknown origin; explorer John Cabot reported that it was the name used by the inhabitants of Newfoundland.^[1] The Romance languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, comprise all languages that descended from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... Giovanni Caboto (c. ... For other uses, see Newfoundland (disambiguation). ...

The Norwegian klippfisk comes from fisk (fish) + klipp (cliff or rock by the waterside), where it was dried.

An obsolete English name for salt cod is "cor-fish".^[2] The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

How it is made

The process

The fish is gutted and decapitated, often on board the boat or ship. (This is feasible with whitefish, whereas it would not be with oily fish.) It is then salted and dried ashore. Traditionally the fish was sun-dried on rocks or wooden frames, but today other means are used. Whitefish (or white fish) has several meanings: It is a fisheries term referring to the flesh of many types of fish; see Whitefish (fisheries term) It refers precisely to the whitefishes of the salmonid genus Coregonus It can refer specifically to the common whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) It was formerly used... Oily fish (oil-rich fish, pelagic fish) are those fish which have oils throughout the fillet and in the belly cavity around the gut, rather than only in the liver like white fish. ...

Species of fish

Traditionally salt cod was made exclusively of cod. After the collapse of the Grand Banks (and other) cod stocks due to overfishing, some products sold as salt cod are in fact other whitefish, such as pollock, haddock, ling and cusk. Species Gadus morhua Gadus macrocephalus Gadus ogac Cod is the common name for the genus Gadus of fish, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name of a variety of other fishes. ... Map showing the Grand Banks Historic map of the Grand Banks. ... × The Traffic Light colour convention, showing the concept of Harvest Control Rule (HCR), specifying when a rebuilding plan is mandatory in terms of precautionary and limit reference points for spawning biomass and fishing mortality rate. ... Species Pollachius pollachius Pollachius virens Pollock is the common name used for either of the two species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. ... Binomial name Melanogrammus aeglefinus (Linnaeus, 1758) Haddock is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. ... Ling may refer to: Several species of fish: Burbot, Lota lota. ...

Quality grades

In Norway, there used to be five different grades of salt cod. The best grade was called superior extra. Then came (in descending order) superior, imperial, universal and popular. These appelations are no longer extensively used, although some producers still make the superior products.

The best klippfisk, the superior extra, is made only from line-caught cod. The fish is always of the skrei, the codfish that once a year is caught during spawning. The fish is bled while alive, before the head is cut off. It is then cleaned, filleted and salted. Fishers and connoisseurs alike place a high importance in the fact that the fish is line-caught, because if caught in a net, the fish may be dead before caught, which may result in bruising of the fillets. For the same reason it is believed to be important that the klippfisk be bled while still alive. Superior klippfisk is salted fresh, whereas the cheaper grades of klippfisk might be frozen first. Lower grades are salted by injecting a salt-water solution into the fish, while superior grades are salted with dry salt. The superior extra is dried twice, much like Parma ham. Between the two drying sessions, the fish rests and the flavour matures. Codfish that is caught during spawning. ... Frog spawn Spawning is the production or depositing of eggs in large numbers by aquatic animals. ... Prosciutto is a dry-cured ham from central and northern Italy and from Slovenia (Kras), where it is called pršut. ...

The best cut of salt cod is considered to be the middle of the back of the fish.

History

The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap, the work can be done by the fisherman or his family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market. Salting became economically feasible during the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe. Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water, which is required for decay and the growth of microorganisms. ... A magnified crystal of a salt (halite/sodium chloride) Salt covering the floor of Bad Water in Death Valley, CA, the lowest point in the US. A salt, in chemistry, is any ionic compound composed of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negative ions) so that the product is neutral...

Originally, drying served as the only practical way to preserve the codfish; this method preserves many nutrients and is said to make the codfish tastier.^{[citation needed]}

Gastronomic uses

Salt cod must be soaked in cold water before cooking, 24 hours per 1 cm thickness.

References

• Clover, Charles (2004). The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat. London: Ebury Press. ISBN 0-09-189780-7.
• Davidson, Alan (1979). North Atlantic Seafood. ISBN 0-670-51524-8.
• Kurlansky, Mark (1997). Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World. New York: Walker. ISBN 0-8027-1326-2.