"Bakala" Topic

Bakala is dried and salted cod.
Does anyone eat it here?
I have eaten it since I was small though I hated it as a child. Now, especially with polenta, it is a favourite.
It is an acquired taste of course.
Like a lot of originally peasant foods, it was a method of preseving food before refrigeration was possible (like pate and smoked meats) but it is IMO a gourmet dish now.

Common back home in New England, especially among the old Portuguese fishing communities. We were surprised to find it even in the supermarkets here in the desert.

It's probably because we grew up eating fresh cod in fairly simple recipes like fish chowder, but I don't care much for the spicier Mediterranean bacalhao recipes. Although I can imagine that one with tomato sauce, peppers, etc., would go very well with polenta.

My favorite is a kind of fish hash with potato, onion, butter, cream…

Allen

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Wasn't he the dude in the show about time travel with the holographic sidekick only he could see?

Bacalhau (or as we say here in norhtern europe – kabeljo) is really good, if prepared right.
I had some really nice bacalhau when I was in Portugal last year. Yum!

I had some very good dried salmon in Seattle. I've also had small dried fish and other seafood in a Japanese snack mix, which I did not like as much. Cod sounds good.

Bakala, no.

Lutefisk, yes.

I can't help but think that lutefisk started out as an inside joke between two vikings.

It does not sound very appetizing.

Fritz, bakala certainly doesn't look appetising before its cooked. It resembles something prehistoric.
But de salted and stewed in a rich tomato sauce with plenty of garlic and extra virgin, its very good. Especially with a glass or two of vino rosso.