Brandade de Morue
Brandade de morue is one of my favorite things to eat with grilled bread. There are many variations of this dish but at its core, it is a spread made from salt cod, olive oil, and potato. The version that I like to make also includes garlic, a bit of milk, bay leaf, and thyme. All of these ingredients come together to make a warm garlicky potato spread that is infused with the flavors of salt cod and a generous quantity of olive oil. The spread is broiled until the top is golden and then served with some nicely grilled or toasted bread.
Salt Cod
Salt cod is cod (AKA morue) that has been heavily salted and dried in order to preserve it. As a result, it needs to be soaked in a few changes of water for at least a day in order to reduce the salinity and soften up the fish. While this is very easy to do, it does mean that you have to plan ahead. The cod can soak for up to 3 days, but it will get less salty over time so you’ll need to adjust final seasoning depending on how long the cod has soaked.
While you can certainly try to make salt cod at home, I prefer to purchase it . Home-made salt cod will still taste delicious, but the flavor and texture of cod that has been salted and thoroughly dried out (the drying is the tricky part) is better in my opinion. Salt cod can be purchased in many forms…bone-in, skin-on, whole… but boneless, skinless fillet is the easiest to work with. You can buy whichever is available, just remember that you will need to remove the skin and bones if they are present.
Procedure
After the cod has been soaked, making the brandade is simple. The cod and sliced potatoes are simmered (separately) in milk. When the potatoes are tender, they are removed from the milk and crushed. The cod is also removed from the milk and broken up into flakes. The fish and potatoes are mixed together and combined with a bit of the cooking milk, garlic, thyme, and plenty of olive oil. The mixture is then placed in a ramekin, pan, or baking dish and broiled until the top is bubbly and golden.
Serving the brandade
The nice thing about this dish is that the brandade can be made up to three days ahead of time. You can store the whipped potato mixture in the fridge and just pop it in the broiler when you are ready to serve. I like to use a relatively low, flat serving dish when broiling the brandade so that it warms quickly and has a good amount of browning top. You can serve the brandade with anything you like (crackers, crudite…etc.), but I really like it smeared on some slightly charred, grilled bread.
Brandade de Morue
Equipment
- oven-safe serving dish such as a cazuela, ramekin, or even just a skillet.
- fork, potato ricer, or a tamis (for processing potatoes)
Ingredients
- 200 grams (7 oz) salt cod, skin and bones removed (see directions below for cleaning salt cod)
- 750 grams (26oz) peeled russet potato (about 2 large potatoes)
- about 1.5 liters (1.5 quarts) whole milk
- 15 grams peeled garlic (3 large cloves)
- 130 grams (5 oz) extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 Tbsp picked fresh thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- salt as needed
- grilled or griddled bread, for serving
Instructions
Soaking the salt cod
- Examine the salt cod and see if there is any skin or bone that needs to be removed. Here I am using cod that is already boneless and skinless.
- Even if you are using boneless, skinless salt cod, there may still be some silverskin and bloodline that should be trimmed off. Use a knife to remove as much as possible. If you miss some, dont worry, you can always pick out any that remains after you have cooked the fish. You want to yield 200 grams (7 oz) of cleaned fillet before soaking.
- Slice the cod into roughly 1/2 inch slices. This step is not necessary but it will speed up the rate at which salt is extracted from the cod.
- Place the cod in a container and cover generously with cold water. Make sure you use at least 2-3 cups of water. Allow the cod to soak in the refrigerator for 24-72 hours. Change the water 2-3 times throughout the soaking process. The longer you soak, the more salt you will need to add back into the finished brandade.
Making the brandade
- Finely grate the garlic using a microplane. Alternatively, you could grind the garlic into a fine paste in a mortar and pestle OR use a knife to finely mince the garlic and use the side of the knife to "smear" the garlic into a fine paste.
- Add the olive oil to the garlic and set aside.
- Cut the peeled potatoes into 1/2 inch slices and place in a bowl of water to rinse off excess starch. Let them sit for a minute or two.
- Remove the sliced potatoes from the water and place in a pot with the bay leaf and enough milk to cover them.
- Drain the salt cod from the soaking water and place into a separate pot with enough milk to cover the cod.
- Bring both pots up to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat and allow them to simmer. The salt cod will simmer for 10 minutes and the potatoes will cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced with a knife.
- After simmering for 10 minutes, strain the cod and reserve the hot milk. ***If the potatoes are done cooking at this point, just turn off the heat and let them sit in the hot milk until you are done processing the salt cod. You don't want the potatoes to cook to the point of completely falling apart and dissolving into the milk.***
- Place the drained cod in a bowl and spread it out so it cools quickly. You can put the bowl in the fridge for a minute or two to speed this up.
- Once cool enough to handle, break the cod into small pieces by rubbing and squeezing it with your (clean) hands. If there were any bits of skin, bone, silverskin, or bloodline, now is the time to remove them.
- The cod should be finely broken up and resemble threads. Set the cod aside.
- When the potatoes are tender, strain them from the hot milk and discard the bay leaf. Reserve the hot milk and combine it with the milk that was used to cook the cod.
- You have a few options for processing the potatoes. You can either pass them through a potato ricer, pass them through a tamis, or just crush them with a fork until relatively smooth. Here I am crushing them with a fork. Whichever method you choose, make sure you process the potatoes while they are still hot so that they do not get gummy.
- **OPTIONAL STEP** If you crushed the potatoes with a fork, you can then press the potatoes through a medium-fine meshed strainer with a rubber spatula to work out any lumps. This step is optional but will yield a smoother brandade. Again, make sure you do this while the potatoes are hot.
- Combine the warm potatoes and cod in a mixing bowl.
- Measure out 4 oz (120 grams) of the reserved cooking milk and discard the rest. Add the 4oz milk, the garlic/olive oil mixture, and the picked thyme leaves to the bowl with the cod and potatoes. Mix everything together. The brandade should resemble the texture of mashed potatoes. Taste the brandade and add salt as necessary. The amount of salt necessary will vary depending on the salinity of your salt cod. It should be seasoned well… slightly saltier than normal mashed potatoes.
- At this stage you can store the brandade in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- When you are ready to serve, spread the brandade in the bottom of an oven-safe serving dish, ramekin or skillet. Don't spread the brandade in a layer any thicker than 1 inch. In this photo, I only used about half of the brandade that I made and saved the rest for later.
- Place the brandade under the broiler and cook for about 5 minutes or until the brandade is warm and golden on top. **see note below regarding cooking time**
- Drizzle the brandade with a little more olive oil if desired and serve with grilled/griddled bread.
