At its essence, Bacalhau à Brás is a three ingredient dish. Those three ingredients are salt cod, potato and eggs. The recipe’s other ingredients, like bay leaves and cilantro, are supporting players that complete the dish.
That being said, salt cod is the dish’s star ingredient.
Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.
Why Salt Cod?
We didn’t frequently encounter salt cod when we lived in America except during holidays like Easter and Christmas. But salt cod, i.e. bacalhau, imported from Norway is everywhere in Portugal. You may be wondering why the Portuguese import so much salt cod since there’s so much fresh fish in Portugal. We wondered the same before we moved to Lisbon.
The answer lies in Portugal’s sea trade and bacalhau’s integral role in the nation’s maritime history. Preserved cod gained popularity back when sailors needed protein that they could preserve without refrigeration. Over the years, bacalhau left the shipyards and landed on Portuguese dinner tables both at restaurants and in homes. It’s a unique product – a salty, funky delicacy that tastes remarkably different from fresh fish and yet equally satisfying.
Ok. So now that we’ve dispensed of a bit of history, let’s talk about which salt cod to use and how to cook it.
Buying Salt Cod
Unlike markets in Portugal, American stores rarely (if ever) sell salt cod. However, thanks to the miracle of the internet, you can buy pre-cut bacalhau online.
We recommend buying loin or lombo as it’s called in Portuguese. It’s a more expensive cut but, once reconstituted, cod loin has a wonderful flake and silky texture. You can also buy salt cod ‘desfiado’ which is sold deboned and shredded. We prefer the loin despite the little bit of extra work required.