Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá
Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá·(bah-kahl-YOW ah GOH-mesh de SAH)
O Nosso Bacalhau
If there is one dish that instantly transports a first-generation Portuguese-American back to their mother’s kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, it is this one. Invented in the 1800s by a wealthy cod merchant in Porto, this isn’t the heavy, tomato-drenched Hollywood approximation of Mediterranean food. This is real Portuguese soul food: an unpretentious, incredibly comforting harmony of rich olive oil, sweet onions, waxy potatoes, and salt cod. The secret to making it taste exactly like home—the trick your grandmother knew—is patience and milk. By gently steeping the cod in hot milk rather than boiling it to a rubbery death, you coax out the harsh brine and leave behind a velvety, luxurious texture. Break the soaking steps across a couple of days in the background, and this 19th-century masterpiece becomes a thirty-minute weeknight reality.
Before you start
Rinse the salt cod under cold water and submerge it in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
Change the water at least twice a day. Pinch off a tiny piece and taste it before proceeding—it should taste pleasantly seasoned, not aggressively salty. This is your weekend work.
Drain the soaked cod, place it in a large pot, and cover completely with rolling boiling water off the heat.
Do not put the pot on the stove. Immediately cover tightly with a lid, wrap a heavy kitchen towel over it to trap the heat, and let it sit undisturbed for exactly twenty minutes.
Peel away the skin, remove the bones, and separate the warm fish into large flakes before steeping them in hot milk.
Heat the whole milk until steaming, pour it over the flaked cod in a deep bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight. This milk infusion is the ultimate old-world secret to velvety, perfect bacalhau.
Ingredients
- thick-cut bone-in dried salt cod1 lb
- Yukon Gold potatoes1 lb
- whole milk2 cup
- extra-virgin olive oil1/2 cup
- yellow onions2 large
- garlic cloves3 med
- freshly ground white pepper1/4 tsp
- sea salt1/2 tsp
- eggs2 large
- pitted black oil-cured or Kalamata olives1/2 cup
- fresh flat-leaf parsley1/4 cup
Method
- 01
Boil the unpeeled potatoes in a pot of salted water until just tender when pierced with a fork, about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Drain them, and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and slice the potatoes into half-inch rounds. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- 02
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat and cook the sliced onions gently until sweet, soft, and translucent.
You do not want them to brown or caramelize; this should take about fifteen minutes. Add the sliced garlic in the last three minutes of cooking so it perfumes the oil without burning.
- 03
Drain and discard the milk from the cod, then gently combine the flaked fish, sliced potatoes, and the onion-oil mixture in a ceramic casserole dish.
Toss very gently so you don't mash the potatoes or break up the cod flakes too much. Season with a pinch of white pepper and a little salt, but taste first as the cod brings its own salinity.
- 04
Bake the casserole in the hot oven for exactly ten minutes.
You just want everything bubbling and intimately married together. Serve immediately in the dish it was baked in, arranging the sliced hard-boiled eggs and black olives over the top, and shower the entire dish generously with chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
Always source the thickest cuts of cod you can find.
Look for thick, white center cuts in the seafood department, often labeled 'lombos'. Avoid thin, yellowed tail pieces, which tend to be excessively tough, salty, and difficult to separate into the beautiful large flakes this dish requires.