Pasteis de Bacalhau
Portugal's defining tapa: small fritters of mashed potato, salt cod, onion and parsley, deep-fried amber-crisp. Eaten warm.
Overview
These are the little salt-cod fritters you'd order at a marble counter in Lisbon, sitting with a glass of vinho verde while the bartender slides a plate across with no ceremony. The recipe itself is simple, dry mashed potato through flaked bacalhau with onion, garlic, parsley and egg, then a brief fry, but it does start the day before because the salt cod wants 24 to 36 hours of cold water soaks to draw the salt out. That step is the one thing you cannot shortcut. Once the cod is desalted, everything else is an afternoon's work: simmer the cod, flake it through warm potato, shape into the three-sided football "quenelles" that are the Portuguese signature, and fry until amber. Eat them warm with a wedge of lemon and a dish of piri-piri on the side.
Ingredients
Bacalhau prep
- 400 g salt cod loin (or fillet, bacalhau - sold dried at Portuguese / Spanish / Iberian shops)
- Cold water (for the 24-36 hour desalting soak)
Cooking the cod
- Cold water (fresh, to cover after desalting)
Potato
- 600 g floury potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward, Russet)
- 1 teaspoon salt (for boiling water)
To bind
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion (medium, very finely diced)
- 3 garlic cloves (very finely chopped)
- 3 eggs (large)
- 3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley (chopped fine)
- ¾ teaspoon white pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Salt only IF needed (the bacalhau still has residual salt)
For frying
- 1 litre vegetable oil
To serve
- Lemon wedges
- A dish of piri-piri sauce (small, optional)
- Black olives, pickled chillies
- Chilled vinho verde
Method
Stage 1 - Desalt the cod (do this 24-36 hours ahead!)
- Place the salt cod in a deep bowl; cover with cold water.
- Refrigerate.
- Change the water every 6-8 hours (4-5 times total over 24-36 hours).
- After the final water change, taste a tiny piece - it should be lightly salty, not aggressively so. If too salty, continue with another water change.
Stage 2 - Cook the cod
- Drain the desalted cod.
- Place in a saucepan with fresh cold water to cover.
- Bring slowly to a low simmer (don't boil).
- Simmer 8-10 minutes - the cod should flake easily.
- Drain; cool 10 minutes; flake into a wide bowl with fingers, removing ALL bones and skin (be patient - bones in fritters are bad).
Stage 3 - Potatoes
- Place potatoes (skins on) in a pot of cold salted water; bring to a boil; cook 25-30 minutes until tender.
- Drain; peel while warm; mash thoroughly with a potato masher or ricer. DRY mash - no butter, no milk.
- Let cool slightly.
Stage 4 - Onion
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small pan over medium-low.
- Sauté onion 6 minutes until soft, not coloured.
- Add garlic; cook 1 minute.
- Off heat; cool.
Stage 5 - Combine
- In a wide bowl, combine mashed potato, flaked cod, softened onion-garlic, eggs, parsley, white pepper and nutmeg.
- Mix thoroughly with a fork until well-blended.
- Taste a tiny piece (a SMALL bit, raw if you must, or a quick fry-test). Add salt only if the mixture isn't already salty enough from the cod.
Stage 6 - Shape (the quenelle technique)
- Wet two soup spoons.
- Scoop a generous spoonful of mixture into one spoon (about 30 g).
- Use the second spoon to scrape the mixture from the first, transferring back and forth 3-4 times to form a smooth three-sided oval (a quenelle).
- Drop directly into the hot oil.
Stage 7 - Fry
- Heat oil to 175°C.
- Drop in 5-6 quenelles at a time.
- Fry 3-4 minutes, turning, until deep amber-gold.
- Lift onto kitchen paper.
Stage 8 - Serve
- Plate warm with lemon wedges, olives, pickled chillies, piri-piri sauce.
- Eat warm with a glass of vinho verde.
Notes
- Desalt thoroughly: Under-desalted bacalhau gives painfully salty fritters. 24-36 hours with 4-5 water changes is right. Taste a tiny piece after the final change to verify.
- Quenelle shape is the technique: The three-sided oval shape is the Portuguese signature. Two-spoon shaping takes practice but is the right method. Walnut-sized balls work too if the quenelle is beyond you.
- Don't add salt blind: The cod brings most of the salt. Always taste-test before salting; otherwise you over-salt.
Storage
- Best within 30 minutes of frying.
- Cooked: refrigerate 3 days; re-crisp at 200°C 5 minutes (microwave makes them rubbery).
- The raw mixture refrigerates 24 hours; fry fresh.
- Cooked fritters freeze 2 months; reheat from frozen at 200°C 8 minutes.
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