Cod Fish Pil Pil Style (Bacalao al Pil Pil)

This recipe is another one of the Basque staples. Pil pil  is a sauce that is produced by the gelatin of the cod, extra virgin olive oil, the water that contains the cod and movement to create and emulsion lighter than mayonaise.

To start this recipe we need a good piece of salted cod.  The process of drying and salting the cod as a preserver is believed to start during the bronze age. The salted cod fish became very popular with the discovery of the new world and was done mostly by Portuguese and Spaniards 500 years ago.  We already mentioned the importance of preserving food with salt (sal). In the Roman Empire they used to pay the soldiers with salt - a commodity at the time, and that is where the word "salary" come from.

Ingredients:

1 Salted Cod Loin cut in 6 pieces

5 Garlic Cloves Sliced

3 Dry Cayenne Peppers

1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Put the salted codfish under running water to get rid of the exterior salt, then cover the cod, skin up, with cold water for 48  to 72 hours, or follow the instructions on the package, or  what they tell you to do in the “bacalarería” (cod store), changing the water every eight hours.

Once the cod is ready to cook, pat it dry and set aside. In a pan place the slices of garlic and the dry cayenne pepper, cook until lightly brown, remove it from the pan and set aside. In the same oil, but not hot, add the pieces of cod one at a time with the skin up and “confit,” meaning the oil shouldn’t  get hot, so set your burner to the lowest possible heat. Remove the cod when it is flakey, but not dry. It should be juicy and tender.

To make the Pil Pil sauce: 

There are two ways of bringing the sauce to the consistency of a light mayonnaise. One is by cooking the cod with the oil at a very low temperature, and moving the pan in consistent strokes. The most modern version is, after the cod has been cooked and removed from the pan, you prepare the sauce with a small colander, stirring the sauce in circles with the colander until it starts thikening. If you add some water you can create a thicker emulsion.

In this case, I got a lighter pil pil due to the quality of the oil.