Salt Cod

Bakaliaros is the strangest staple in Greek cooking, since cod is a cold North Atlantic fish that has never swum anywhere near Greece. It arrived as dried, heavily salted sides carried in by Atlantic traders, and its whole value was that it kept indefinitely without ice, which meant inland villages hundreds of miles from any coast could eat fish at all.

That made it the fish of the Orthodox fasting calendar. It is eaten on 25 March, the Annunciation, and on Palm Sunday, the two days during Lent when fish is permitted, and bakaliaros skordalia, the fish battered and fried and served with a fierce garlic and potato dip, is what most households cook on those two days.

Soaking is the whole job. Salt cod needs at least a full day in cold water, and thicker pieces closer to two, with the water poured off and replaced several times, and the only reliable test is to taste a small corner before cooking. Under-soaked cod is inedible, and no amount of batter, lemon or sauce afterwards will rescue it.