Baccala for dried cod, known in English as clipfish. Most baccalà dishes require that the fish be soaked numerous times to remove excess saltiness. It is the same word as Portuguese bacalhau, and Spanish bacalao, which are used in similar dishes. Despite its name, the baccalà alla vicentina, a dish native to Vicenza, is not made from salted cod, but from dried unsalted cod (stockfish) served on or next to polenta. In Rome, Baccalà alla Romana, is a dish of deep-fried battered salt-cod, which derives from the traditional cuisine of the Jewish quarter. Because in the old days, in Italian households, this dried out flattened fish was frequently used as a paddle for spankings, the term baccala was often used as a term for spanking; as in, "You better behave yourself or I'll give you baccala!", or "You want me to give you baccala?” Cod has been an important economic commodity in an international market since the Viking period (around 800 AD). Norwegians used dried cod during their travels and soon a dried cod market developed in southern Europe. This market has lasted for more than 1000 years, passing through periods of Black Death, wars and other crises and still is an important Norwegian fish trade.[4] The Portuguese since the 15th century have been fishing cod in the North Atlantic and clipfish is widely eaten and appreciated in Portugal. The Basques also played an important role in the cod trade and are claimed to have found the Canadian fishing banks before the Colombus' discovery of America.[citation needed] The North American east coast developed in part due to the vast amount of cod, and many cities in the New England area spawned near cod fishing grounds. Apart from the long history this particular trade also differs from most other trade of fish by the location of the fishing grounds, far from large populations and without any domestic market. The large cod fisheries along the coast of North Norway (and in particular close to the Lofoten islands) have been developed almost uniquely for export, depending on sea transport of stockfish over large distances.[5] Since the introduction of salt, dried salt cod ('klippfisk' in Norwegian) has also been exported. The trade operations and the sea transport were by the end of the 14th century taken over by the Hanseatic League, Bergen being the most important port of trade.[6] William Pitt the Elder, criticizing the Treaty of Paris in Parliament, claimed that cod was "British gold"; and that it was folly to restore Newfoundland fishing rights to the French. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the New World, especially in Massachusetts and Newfoundland, cod became a major commodity, forming trade networks and cross-cultural exchanges. In the 20th century, Iceland re-emerged as a fishing power and entered the Cod Wars to gain control over the north Atlantic seas. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, cod fishing off the coast of Europe and America severely depleted cod stocks there which has since become a major political issue as the necessity of restricting catches to allow fish populations to recover has run up against opposition from the fishing industry and politicians reluctant to approve any measures that will result in job losses. The 2006 Northwest Atlantic cod quota is set at 23,000 tons representing half the available stocks, while it is set to 473,000 tons for the Northeast Atlantic cod. The Pacific Cod is currently enjoying a strong global demand. The 2006 TAC for the Gulf of Alaska and Berning Sea Aleutian Island was set at 260,000,000 kg (574 million pounds).

SALTING COD and the MICROBIOLOGY OF SALT

The suitability of salt for fish preservation depends on several factors including chemical composition and grain size as well as microbiological quality. The microbial contents of a salt can be detrimental to the final product quality. Commercial salts are commonly divided into three main groups, viz solar salts, produced by natural evaporation of sea-water, rock salt which is mined on land from natural deposits of salt and vacuum salts prepared by artificial evaporation under vacuum. Of these, solar salt generally contains the largest amounts of microorganisms, frequently ten times more than rock salt, whereas vacuum salts harbour no microorganisms. Solar salts commonly contain 10 bacteria/g and rarely exceed 10 /g when common bacteriological media are used. The general bacterial flora of solar salt mostly constitutes Bacillus types (75%), the remainder being Micrococcus and Sarcina types. Studies on rock salt have shown a predominance of micrococci (70%), corynebacteria (20%) and Bacillus (4Z). The most potential spoilage organisms in solar salts, however, are the red halophilic bacteria. These bacteria are always present in solar salts but not in other types of salts. When solar salts are produced these bacteria proliferate in the brine giving the evaporation ponds a red colour. Their numbers in the salt gradually decrease when the finished salt is stored under dry conditions. Even though the numbers of red halophilic bacteria in solar salts vary a lot, commonly found values range from 100 -1000/g of salt. The red halophiles belong to two genera of bacteria, Halobacterium and Halococcus. Halobacterium consist of rod shaped bacteria requiring at least 10-15% of salt for growth whereas Halococcus can grow at 5-10% of salt, but maximum growth takes place at around 16-25% NaCl. Both genera produce red carotenoid pigments. They are strictly aerobic and grow optimally at around 37ºC. A common practice when salting fish is to reuse the salt a few times over. A word of warning should be given in this respect. Not only is the chemical composition of the salt altered after having been in contact with the fish flesh, but it also has absorbed significant amounts of organic material. The bacterial load of used salts can be extremely high especially regarding red halophiles and osmophilic moulds. For the production of high quality products fresh salt should always be used. SALTED COD Salted cod and related species are very popular in many countries. The fish is salted either split or as fillets. The fish is placed in layers of salt to a height of 100-120 cm, using 600-700 kg of salt for 1 000 kg of fish. After 6-8 days the fish is salted in fresh salt and left for 10-14 days, after which it may be resalted once more. Fully salted wet cod contains less than 52% water and 19-20% NaCl. The fish is either marketed directly as wet salted cod or dried to a final water content of 30-45%. Many variations of the above procedure exist, depending on market preferences. The most common variation is that instead of the first dry salting stage the fish is pickled for 3-5 days by salting in closed containers, whereby the fish becomes immersed in the extracted water. The fish is then dry salted as described before. Pickle salting in the first stage is generally considered to give higher overall yield for the process. Dry salted fish are traditionally plagued by two types of defects of microbiological origin, i.e. spoilage by red halophilic bacteria ("pink") and moulding by a highly osmophilic type of fungus ("dun"). As these microorganisms are strictly aerobic this condition is not known in brine salted products. Usually solar salt is used for salting cod and it always contains red halophilic bacteria. Even though these bacteria in the salt are the primary source of the problem, using bacteria-free salt will not solve the problem unless the fish salting plant is thoroughly decontaminated. The red halophilic bacteria will grow wherever are suitable brine solutions and temperatures between 15 and 55°C. General trade practices are to keep the fish at all times below 8°C to avoid development of "pink". In advanced stages of "pink" the fish develops putrid odours as the bacteria are highly proteolytic. At the initial stages of "pink" the fish can be washed and subsequently kept at <8°C or fully dried to a moisture level of 30%. Growth of red halophilic bacteria can also be retarded by dipping the fish for 1 min in at least 1% solution of potassium sorbate. Another defect in dry salted fish is "dun" which consists-of 1-2 mm mould spots visible particularly on the flesh side of salted fish. The spots range in colour from yellowish, brown, or even black. They are caused by the fungus Sporendonema which has optimal growth at 10-15% salt concentrations, 75% relative humidity, and a temperature of 25°C. In extreme cases the fish can become covered with the mould. The main source of this organism appears to be the salting stations rather than the salt itself. Spores are distributed in great quantities from infected fish. Cooling the fish below 8 C seems to keep the mould reasonably well at bay, even though it grows at 10°C. Dips of 30 seconds in 0.1% sorbic acid appears to be an effective remedy to this problem. Regular cleaning and disinfection of salting stations is very important both for general hygienic reasons as well as for keeping red halophilic bacteria and moulds at a minimum. General disinfection practices can be used, but it should be kept in mind that the red halophiles are relatively resistant to disinfectants.

Baccala Recipes

Baccala Links

Home

Baccala.net

Copyright ©1999 Baccala.net All rights reserved.