Year: 2016

Stockfish has a long history and now is not the time to tell you about it because over the years it has become a novel…
I have been to the Lofoten Islands in Norway many times and have visited many places where cod is produced and stored, which then becomes stockfish.
Here in the first hinterland, we have many trattorias that prepare boiled stockfish on Fridays and the customers are always very numerous.
It must be said that preparing boiled stockfish is very easy but one of the reasons why many women do not like to cook it at home is due to the bad smell that comes from cooking and that then spreads throughout the house. I use a very simple system to not have bad smells in the house and I want to tell you how I do it.

First of all, the night before, I soak a couple of handfuls of beans in cold water and boil them the next morning together with the potatoes with their skins: I calculate a nice potato and a half per person. Then I steam the stockfish in the pressure cooker. I put two or three fingers of water on the bottom of the pot to which I add salt, some bay leaves and a celery stalk. At this point I put the stockfish in a special cage that fits into the pot without the fish touching the water and I add a whole onion from which I have removed the peel.
If the stockfish I bought is wet, very wet, I cook it calculating 10 minutes after the first whistle of the pot that indicates that the internal pressure is optimal. After waiting these 10 minutes, I remove the pot from the heat and take it into the garden (or onto the terrace) to let all the steam out of the house and without the bad smell spreading throughout the house. Once I return home I clean the stockfish, peel the potatoes and add the beans. Before seasoning everything with Ligurian extra virgin olive oil, I add my sauce that I prepared during the 10 minutes of cooking the fish.

Stockfish sauce:

In a mortar and pestle (you can also use an immersion blender), crush a few pine nuts, a clove of garlic without the core and a couple of anchovy fillets.

I'll tell you some funny anecdotes on another occasion.

I attach a photo (taken by me) of a house in Lofoten with stockfish drying.

Stockfish boiled by starred chef Loris, the recipe – Stockfish bouilli par le chef étoilé Loris, la recette – Bacalao hervido por el chef estrellado Loris, la receta – Bacalhau cozido pelo chef estrelado Loris, a receita – Stockfisch gekocht von Sternekoch Loris, das Rezept – Cá kho do đầu bếp Loris đóng vai chính, công thức – 明星大厨 Loris 亲手烹制的鳕鱼，食谱 – スターシェフのロリスが煮込んだストックフィッシュ、レシピ