asakiyume | a salted codfish

From The Snow Queen

No one was at home except an old Lapp woman, who was cooking fish over a whale-oil lamp. The reindeer told her Gerda's whole story, but first he told his own, which he thought was much more important. Besides, Gerda was so cold that she couldn't say a thing.

"Oh, you poor creatures," the Lapp woman said, "you've still got such a long way to go. Why, you will have to travel hundreds of miles into the Finmark. For it's there that the Snow Queen is taking a country vacation, and burning her blue fireworks every evening. I'll jot down a message on a dried codfish, for I haven't any paper. I want you to take it to the Finn woman who lives up there. She will be able to tell you more about it than I can."
Translation
(there are many, and they vary in interesting ways,**
but this is the one I remember from childhood)

I cooked with a salted codfish last night. It was the third time I'd done so. The first two times, I used small pieces of salted fish that came in a little box, all skinned and practically deboned. This time I used salted cod that came in a bag.

I opened the bag and unfolded almost a complete fish, with skin and fins and a tale, all crusted in salt, and it was so beautiful, I can't even say, and if I had wanted to write a message to my magic-wielding sister up where the Northern Lights dance, I could have, on the flank of this fish. I wish I had taken a photo--you'll just have to believe me.

Not my fish, but similar enough

**For instance, those "blue fireworks" are translated as "Bengal lights," and the whale-oil lamp as a "train lantern" over here. ("Bengal lights" burn with a blue flame and, so the internet tells me, made from "nitre, sulphur, and the black sulphide of antimony"--isn't it grand to live in this information age?)

Crossposts: https://asakiyume.livejournal.com/911275.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sovay

I opened the bag and unfolded almost a complete fish, with skin and fins and a tale, all crusted in salt, and it was so beautiful, I can't even say, and if I had wanted to write a message to my magic-wielding sister up where the Northern Lights dance, I could have, on the flank of this fish.

Yay!

From:

asakiyume

Next time I buy it, I will write a message on it and take a picture.

From:

osprey_archer

I hope you do! I'm curious to see what a message written on salt cod looks like - and what you would use to write it.

From:

asakiyume

I think I would use the point of a knife and incise the message in the salt, maybe reaching down to the skin. ... Though how well would that survive the journey to the Finn woman, I wonder? Maybe a knife that's been dipped in edible colorant wouldn't be a bad idea. Hmmm. Will think.

From:

mount_oregano

Salt cod -- bacalao -- is a delicacy in Spain. I loved it when I lived there.

From:

asakiyume

The bag I bought had bacalao on it--I thought it was a company name! And more broadly, I thought it was likely Portuguese, because of that -ao ending. But now I know!

Did you have a favorite dish? I'd love to try making it

From:

mount_oregano

"Bacalao" is the Spanish word. It's "bacalhau" in Portuguese. And in Spanish, the person who "cuts the bacalao" is the one who "wears the pants in the family."

There are so many wonderful things to make with bacalao. A restaurant in Lisbon boasts of cooking it a different way every day of the year. I have a 40-page recipe book from Spain. My favorite, which I used to make for Good Friday, is a salad. Ingredients:

bacalao, lightly cooked and cooled, in pieces. You don't need much.
arugula (this is key, it's like magic with bacalao)
spring onions, sliced
orange, in pieces
orange juice and lemon juice
olive oil
salt
pepper
hard-boiled eggs, cut in quarters

Arrange it all pretty on a platter.

From:

asakiyume

Oh this sounds brilliant. I will *definitely* make it once we clear Thanksgiving leftovers!

From:

wayfaringwordhack

That sounds delicious!

From:

randomdreams

The bengal lights recipe is 2/3 of blackpowder. I bet it burns well!

What do you make with salted cod?

From:

asakiyume

Apparently it was used for flares? I love the idea of a Northern witch (a good one), in the cold and snow, her place alight with bengal lights.

This time, I made this recipe, which is French in origin. As I was telling

minoanmiss down below, initially it was a substitution for salt herring in a Russian dish.

From:

randomdreams

Current road flares are made from strontium nitrate, the nitrate serving the same purpose in both, and the strontium providing the red.

From:

asakiyume

So flares went from blue to red! Interesting!

Plus, I never knew that strontium was what made nowadays-flares red. Plus, "strontium-nitrate" sounds like "strontium 90," and in fact, I can't hear "strontium" without thinking of radioactivity, whether there's a 90 after it or not...

From:

randomdreams

I admit I've never seen blue flares, and am doing some reading about them as we speak.

From:

randomdreams

https://www.britannica.com/technology/flare-lighting#ref172460 seems like the most relevant chunk of information.

From:

randomdreams

That implies, by the way, that they originally used arsenic sulfide (orpiment) rather than antimony sulfide. Eeeew.

From:

asakiyume

Do you suppose it was side-effects that led to the switch?

From:

asakiyume

LOL; that's you and me both--I had not heard of them before discovering that other translation of The Snow Queen

From:

minoanmiss

OH MY HEART. This is twice tonight people have gotten me with food related nostalgia. I remember salt cod, soaking it and flaking it and feeling through for the little bones, and its savory delicious fishy saltiness in many Jamaican dishes.

From:

asakiyume

I had no idea that salt cod was such a beloved part of so many cuisines--although maybe I should have guessed, since it's a very old, time-tested way of preserving a wonderful fish. I originally got it as a replacement for salted herring, which wasn't available in the supermarket, for use in a Russian recipe by a loud, good-natured Russian Youtuber whom the healing angel enjoyed. I didn't soak the salt cod long enough for that recipe, though, so it came out a leeetle too salty. So then I found this delicious recipe, which is French. The first time I made it, I soaked the fish too long and ended up adding salt and WHAT, I ASK, IS THE POINT OF THAT when you are starting out with salted fish?? So this time I soaked it not quite so long and it came out just right. But meanwhile, I learned from

mount_oregano that it's a beloved food in Spain, and now from you that it's beloved in Jamaica--and I recall that it was used in Nigerian cookery too, when I was making Nigerian recipes. And obviously it was something that Hans Christian Andersen associated with Lapland and Finland.

I'm going to look for some Jamaican recipes that use it--do you have a favorite?

From:

minoanmiss

Salt cod is a glorious foodstuff that shows up wherever people go by boat, I often think. It's definitely a major food item in the North Sea, and the Iberian Peninsula, and in the Caribbean due to all that trading and shipping.

Ahahah, leanring Just How Long to soak the cod is an art form.

The National Dish of Jamaica is Ackee and Saltfish -- one day I should wend my way westward and make it for you. I also really loved codfish fritters, which was codfish, scallions, tomatoes, and some thyme all chopped up and folded into a gooey batter and fried in dollops.

From:

asakiyume

YUMMMMM!

I am going to have to make those fritters. Maybe next week. And I would love to have you come cook Ackee and Saltfish *any time*

From:

randomdreams

I'd simply like to hear what ackee and saltfish IS!

From:

amaebi

I also hope to learn Jamaican ways with bacalao.

From:

minoanmiss

I shoudl go through my recipes and notes and give you a few.

From:

amaebi

I used to make bacalao, Portuguese style, during my first marriage. My current household doesn't like it, so I don't make it. I should probably try a Spanish bacalá dish with a much more soaked-and-rinsed fish, and probably starting with a whole one. I don't often see them hereabouts, though.

There are a lot of Spanishes. I think that bacalá is probably the one I've seen most often.

I have loved "The Snow Queen" since I first read it in second grade, and I particularly loved Gerda's far-northerly. trip. I knew so little about Scandinavians, not history, nor literature*, nor hearsay, and I was fascinated how different each place and person Gerda visited was. I asked my father, who so often knew so much, and he was also pretty much void.

I loved how wilder and more powerful went together.

* A few years later my enthusiasm for Tolkien led me to have a go at Snorri Sturlluson, which I probably spelled wrong, but at that time I was too dainty for it.

From:

asakiyume

I would love to have your Portuguese-style recipe--or a similar one, if you see one easily online. I will make salt cod All The Ways.

Same with me and The Snow Queen. It's an amazing, rich, wonderful tale that I've never stopped loving.

I have never tried Snorri Sturlluson, whom the internet tells me was an Icelandic poet, but in general I've found old epics not really my thing unless I'm guided through them by an enthusiastic teacher.

From:

amaebi

Sure, I'll transcribe it.

From:

randomdreams

Can you read Icelandic? I got a bit of the way into danish and swedish, but icelandic utterly defeated me.

From:

asakiyume

Maybe you meant this comment for

amaebi? Speaking for myself, I can't read Icelandic. The only old-language-that-epics-are-written-in that I ever knew even a little of was Old English...

Knowing some Danish and Swedish must be neat! You can read Hans Christian Andersen in the original.

From:

randomdreams

I misunderstood: I thought you were talking about translating Snorri Sturlson. I _think_ I know the languages [personal profile] amaebi speaks/reads/is learning.
I only learned enough to engage in very rudimentary conversation with my relatives, alas.

From:

asakiyume

If I had endless time, I'd love to learn and know lots and lots of languages...

... and as for only knowing enough for rudimentary conversation, even that's something :-)

From:

wayfaringwordhack

I have never read The Snow Queen. This is something I must rectify. Or rather I have read a version but it was an abridged retelling that had hardly a whiff of magic about it.

I have eaten salted cod in France and think I even made something once with it, earlier in my marriage, but now I can't remember exactly what. I just remember buy it and soaking it in milk in our teensy kitchen in our Paris studio apartment (studio being code for tiny, almost-1 room flat). Ah! A quick google brought it back: brandade de morue. Is that what your recipe is like? I wasn't able to open the link enough to see the full recipe without creating an account onsite.

The way I have eaten it most is in the form of acres de morue or codfish cakes. Julien's stepmom is Portugese and makes really good ones. I should ask her for her recipe.

ETA: Wanted to add a link off the Internet to give you an idea: http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/foodfreeway/2010/11/03/recipe-of-the-week-accras-de-morue/

Edited Date: 2018-11-23 04:40 pm (UTC)

From:

asakiyume

Ohgosh ohgosh--another delicious recipe; thank you so much!!

And yeah, the NYT recipe sounds very like what you describe--boiling in milk, etc., and it was called a brandade!

From:

wayfaringwordhack

Yeah, acras (or Accras, or other spellings) are tasty; they are fried: How could they not be! (Just realized that my spellcheck auto-corrected it to acres :P). I really should call Marie and get her recipe.