AI-generated image
Bacalao a la vizcaína
Bacalao a la vizcaína: Bilbao salt cod in a sweet, brick-red sauce of onions and choricero peppers
Bilbao's great salt cod dish shows up every Lent and on Good Friday, and in the city's old taverns its sauce is judged as fiercely as the fish. The sauce is made only from onions cooked for a long time and the flesh of dried choricero peppers, with no tomato, which gives it its deep red colour and gentle sweetness. Salt cod needs 36–48 hours of soaking in the fridge, so start two days ahead. A common mistake is hurrying the onions: they need at least 40 minutes on a low heat to turn soft and sweet. Chef's tip: taste a flake of the soaked cod before cooking, and if it's still salty, soak it a few hours more.
- Total time
- 105 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the cod
For the sauce
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Two days ahead, rinse the 1 ¾ lb thick salt cod loins and put it skin side up in a large bowl of cold water. Cover and keep in the fridge for 36–48 hours, changing the water 3–4 times a day.
10 minStep 2: Remove the stalks and seeds from the 8 dried choricero peppers (or 4 tbsp choricero paste) and soak the peppers in hot water for 1 hour. Scrape the soft red flesh from the skins with a spoon and keep it; discard the skins.
15 minStep 3: Heat half the 3 ½ tbsp olive oil in a heavy pan over a low heat. Add 1 ⅔ lb onions and 3 cloves garlic and cook for 40–45 minutes, stirring now and then, until very soft, sweet and pale gold. Add a splash of water if they start to catch.
45 minStep 4: Stir in the pepper flesh and the ¾ cup water and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend until smooth, then pass through a sieve for a silky sauce. Taste and add 1 pinch salt only if needed, as the cod is salty.
12 minStep 5: Pat the cod dry. Warm the rest of the 3 ½ tbsp olive oil in a wide pan over a low heat and cook the cod skin side up for 3 minutes, then skin side down for 3 minutes, shaking gently. Don't let it fry fast.
6 minStep 6: Pour the sauce into a clay dish or pan, lay the cod on top, skin side up, and simmer very gently for 6–8 minutes, until the cod is opaque all the way through and flakes when pressed. Serve hot.
8 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 430 kcal
- Protein
- 52 g
- Carbs
- 18 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bacalao a la vizcaína take?
- About 105 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 75 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Horchata de chufa
Horchata de chufa is the drink of Valencia's summer, sold ice-cold in the city's horchaterías with long, soft fartons pastries for dipping. It is made from chufas, or tiger nuts: small wrinkled tubers grown around the village of Alboraya just north of Valencia, which have their own protected designation of origin. Soaked, ground with water, strained and sweetened, they give a creamy, nutty, naturally dairy-free milk with a hint of cinnamon. Valencians drink it very cold, or half-frozen as 'granizada'. Chef's tip: soak the tiger nuts for a full 24 hours and change the water once; they must be plump and soft enough to blend into a fine pulp, or the horchata will be thin and taste of raw starch.
Singapore chilli crab
Chilli crab was first sold from a pushcart on the Kallang river in the 1950s and is now the dish visitors queue for along Singapore's East Coast seafood strip. Big mud crabs are cut up, wok-fried and simmered in a thick, sweet, tangy and gently hot sauce of chilli, tomato and garlic, which is then silked with beaten egg. Everyone eats with their hands and mops up the sauce with fried or steamed mantou buns. It is a weekend or celebration meal, messy and loud. Buy crabs live or freshly cooked the same day from a fishmonger you trust. Discard any live crab that doesn't move, smells of ammonia or has a cracked, leaking shell. The common mistake is boiling the sauce after adding the egg, which scrambles it into lumps; pour it in a thin stream over a low heat. Chef's tip: ask the fishmonger to clean and quarter the crab for you, and crack each claw lightly with the back of a cleaver so the sauce soaks in.
Singaporean
Rhode Island clam cakes
At beach shacks along Narragansett Bay and in Galilee, clam cakes are bought by the paper bag, half a dozen at a time, to dunk in a cup of clear clam chowder. They are not patties but craggy, golden fritters, crisp outside and soft inside, studded with chopped quahog clams. Chef's tip: use the clam juice as part of the liquid; it puts the sea flavour into every bite of batter.
American