L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano B a c c a l à a n d stoccafisso: w h o h a s n ' t h a d t h e m a t l e a s t o n c e i n their lifetime? Maybe, if you come from a pretty tradi- tional Italian family, you may have had them not so long ago, on Christmas Eve, as part of the traditional fish feast many prepare for the occasion. Flavorsome and, in my opinion, delicious, both bac- calà and stoccafisso are, for s o m e o n e , a b i t o f a n a c q u i r e d t a s t e . T h e y a r e s a l t y a n d " f i s h y , " s o t h e y aren't the best choice for those who are not into fish to begin with, or are into m i l d e r d i s h e s . S o m e s a y children don't like them but I loved them both as a kid. M y g r a n d m o t h e r w o u l d make baccalà or stoccafisso at least a couple of times a month, rigorously on Fri- days, to honor the giorno di m a g r o s h e , a d e v o u t C a t h o l i c b o r n i n 1 9 1 7 , a l w a y s r e s p e c t e d . W i t h potatoes and olives, or with tomatoes and capers, they b o t h w e r e a m o n g m y favorite fish meals. Recipes with baccalà and s t o c c a f i s s o a r e a s t a p l e a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y , f r o m North to South, but this is quite funny when you think that cod, the fish used to make both, is nowhere to be found in our seas, too warm f o r i t . C o d l o v e s t h e c o l d waters of the Atlantic or of t h e N o r t h e r n a n d A r c t i c seas, and that's why it's so common in Scandinavia or even Great Britain and Ire- l a n d : i t i s t o t h e m w h a t anchovies and sardines are for us. But so, why are Ital- ians so obsessed with bac- calà and stoccafisso, and why are these two prepara- tions common everywhere? T o u n d e r s t a n d i t , w e need to take a step back in t i m e a n d a l s o t o e x p l a i n what baccalà and stoccafis- s o a r e . L e t u s b e g i n w i t h stoccafisso. From Italy, we FRANCESCA BEZZONE be preserved by letting it dry for three months in the open air, hanging from spe- cial open structures built exclusively for it. In 1432, Venetian merchant Pietro Q u e r i n i a n d h i s c r e w encountered a violent storm while crossing the English Channel and found respite o n t h e s m a l l N o r w e g i a n island of Røst, where dried c o d w a s m a d e a n d c o n - sumed regularly. Querini fell in love with the fish and he was very likely the first to import air-dried cod - our stoccafisso - to Italy. Here, it was to become all the rage i n t h e k i t c h e n s o m e 1 0 0 years later when the Council of Trento (1545-1563) called for fasting days - that is, d a y s w h e n m e a t a n d f a t s shouldn't be consumed - to be respected with more reg- u l a r i t y . S t o c c a f i s s o w a s o f t e n c h e a p e r t h a n f r e s h fish, so it became a wide- spread fasting day dish in many a family. Five hun- dred years later, we remain one of the main importers from Norway of this prod- uct. The origin of baccalà is m o r e d i f f i c u l t t o t r a c e . W h i l e s t o c c a f i s s o c a n b e produced only in Norway and only during a specific time of the year, baccalà c a n b e m a d e e v e r y w h e r e and anytime: you only need salt and cod. Indeed, bac- calà is nothing more than salt-preserved cod. It likely came to Italy from the Bay of Biscay, between France and Spain; local fishermen who were involved in whale fishing often encountered so much cod they needed to f i n d a w a y t o p r e s e r v e i t quickly and bring it back to land. They, quite simply, began preserving cod the same way they would pre- serve whale, by keeping it under salt, so salted cod, or b a c c a l à , b e c a m e a n u t r i - tious ingredient for the fish- ermen at sea. They also used i t t o f i n d o u t w h e t h e r a s t o r m w a s o n t h e w a y o r not: they would hang salted cod to their ship's mast and, if the salt melted, it meant there was high humidity in the air and that bad weather was coming. Soon, the salt- ing technique invented by French and Spanish fisher- men was exported to Nor- way, where it became just a n o t h e r w a y t o p r e s e r v e cod, along with air-drying. In the early years of the his- tory of the United States, the regions of New England used salted cod as an impor- tant exchange good, espe- cially with the Caribbean and Portugal. Today, both stoccafisso and baccalà are vital ingre- d i e n t s o f I t a l i a n c u i s i n e . P e r h a p s o n e o f t h e m o s t well-known recipes is bac- calà alla Vicentina which, despite the name, should be made with stoccafisso, milk, olive oil, flour, sardines and parsley. Always in Veneto, you will find the stoccafisso mantecato, a typical Venet- ian dish, where the fish is transformed into a creamy concoction often served as a starter. In fact, the same type of preparation can be used to make baccalà man- t e c a t o . T r a d i t i o n a l l y , Neapolitans love their fried baccalà on Christmas Eve, a t r u e d e l i c a c y . I n L i g u r i a , y o u ' l l f i n d t h e m b o t h cooked with potatoes and you shouldn't forget they c a n a l s o b e b a k e d , o r become a tasty addition to fish soups. LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES Baccalà and stoccafisso: Italy's most international ingredients m u s t t r a v e l t o b e a u t i f u l Norway, more specifically to the Lofoten islands, and t u r n t h e t i m e b a c k s o m e centuries. Fishermen knew well that cod would come c l o s e t o t h e i r l a n d t o l a y eggs between February and April every year: fishing was abundant in those months, perhaps too abundant, so they skillfully created a way to keep some of their catch for later in the year. They understood that cod could Genoese-style stoccafisso, with tomatoes, potatoes and olives (Photo: Alexander Mychko/Dreamstime) OPEN 8AM - 5PM MONDAY TO SATURDAY. SUNDAY CLOSED

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