The Caribbean · Volume 13, The Pilón, the Colony and the Frontier
Bacalaítos
Puerto Rico
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- Hands on 40 minutes · Waiting 8 hours
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Bacalaítos
Serves 4 to 6 . 40 minutes (plus overnight to desalinate the cod)
Ingredients
- 450g (1 lb) salt cod, desalinated
- 3 cups (about 375g) flour
- 1 to 1½ tbsp baking powder
- a pinch, to taste adobo
- 1½ to 3 cups, enough for a thin, almost lacy batter water
- 2 cloves, crushed garlic
- 2 tbsp, chopped cilantro
- about ¼ inch depth hot oil, for frying
Method
- Desalinate the salt cod overnight, or by boiling and draining up to three times.
- Shred the cod into a thin batter of flour, baking powder, adobo, water, garlic and cilantro, thin enough that the finished fritter is almost lacy rather than a thick, doughy cake.
- Drop by spoonful into about a quarter inch of hot oil and fry until golden and crisp at the edges.
What a modern chef changes
A finer lace, a concentrated sea note
Method
- Pass the batter through a chinois after mixing, removing any stray fibre from the shredded cod for a genuinely finer lace.
- Dehydrate a portion of the desalinated cod separately, grind it in the spice grinder into a seasoning dust, and finish the fried fritters with it, a real concentration of the sea rather than a garnish laid on top for effect.
- Fry in smaller, more controlled spoonfuls at a slightly higher, more consistent oil temperature than a home stove typically holds, for the crisp-all-the-way-through lace the best versions have and many home versions do not.