Employee Jose Martins, 81, chooses a salt cod slab for a costumer at the Manteigaria Silva grocery shop in Figueira square, downtown Lisbon on December 16, 2024. Grilled, fried, in a salad or with cream: according to popular saying, there are as many recipes for dried cod as there are days in the year in Portugal, the world's largest consumer of "bacalhau" and where it is the traditional Christmas dish. — Photo: Patricia DE MELO MOREIRA/ AFP
Salt cod has long been a national staple in Portugal, where it is said there are as many recipes for this humble fish as there are days in the year.
And at Christmas the dried and salted fish is central to meals at family gatherings in Portugal, the world's biggest consumer of "bacalhau" as it is called here, just as turkey is at Thanksgiving in the United States.
The most traditional way to prepare salt cod is to bake it in the oven and serve it with boiled potatoes.
But it can also be grilled, turned into fritters or even used to replace meat in a lasagna.
"When I'm asked to come up with a menu for Christmas, I am bound to suggest a salt cod recipe," said chef Ricardo Simoes of the Federico restaurant located at a luxury hotel in central Lisbon.
"We have an incredible culture" around the preserved fish, the 42-year-old added, saying he "likes to play" with traditional recipes to give them a touch of sophistication.
This year he has designed a cod confit matched with prawns and drizzled with coriander juice.
Portugal consumed nearly 55,000 tonnes of salt cod last year, an average of around six kilos (13 pounds) per inhabitant, according to the Cod Industry Association (AIB).
Roughly one-third of cod sales happen around Christmas, according to the group.
As the holiday season approaches, supermarkets across the country of around 10 million people prominently display hundreds of salt-encrusted cod piled high.
A costumer buys salt cod fillets at the Manteigaria Silva grocery shop in Figueira square in downtown Lisbon on December 16, 2024.
'Meat of the poor'
The central role of cod in the country's cuisine is surprising since the fish, which thrives in deep icy waters such as those around the North Atlantic, has never existed in Portuguese seas.
Introduced to the country in the 16th century, salt cod represented a nutritious and non-perishable food source for Portuguese sailors on their long sea expeditions to the Americas and Asia.
At first this fish was a food exclusive to the aristocracy but it gradually became popular as well among lower classes as supply increased, bringing down prices.
Salt cod started being regarded as "the meat of the poor". It is also referred to as "o fiel amigo" or "the faithful friend".
Consumption boomed in the 20th century during the decades-long dictatorship of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, which subsidised cod fishing expeditions off Canada's eastern coast and Greenland, the director of a Lisbon museum dedicated to the history of cod, Claudia Gomes, told AFP.
Today salt cod dishes are often sought out by tourists who visit the country.
"Coming to Portugal and not tasting salt cod is like going to Brazil without visiting Rio de Janeiro," said Jessica Baptista, a 33-year-old Brazilian tourist, as she left the D'Bacalhau restaurant in Lisbon.
Specialising in traditional cod recipes, the eatery cooks "a minimum of eight tonnes of cod every month," said its owner Julio Fernandes, 68.
Youth losing interest
Portugal accounts for almost 20 percent of the world's consumption of this fish, which is caught mainly in Iceland and Norway.
The sector employs more than 2,500 people in Portugal, with sales worth 500 million euros ($519 million) last year, according to AIB figures.
Producers predict a fall in consumption this year due to a rise in price which jumped nearly 15 percent to hit nearly 14 euros a kilo in 2024.
They also find younger generations are losing interest, in part due to the time it takes to prepare salted cod.
The fish must be soaked in several changes of cold war before cooking.
"Reaching out to young people is our big challenge," said Vera Xavier, head of production at the Riberalves cod processing plant near Lisbon. – AFP
