Mainland Brazil · Volume 42, The Court and the Clay Pot
Bolinho de bacalhau
Rio de Janeiro
Illustration
- Time
- 1 hour
- Researched
- 6 sources cited
Salt cod arrived with the 1808 court and never left. Bolinho de bacalhau is the everyday boteco form it took: potato and desalted, shredded cod bound with egg, seasoned with parsley and fried, correctly made with desfiado rather than a whole loin, since the fish is bound into a mash anyway and a loin's cost would be wasted here.
As tradition built it
Makes about 20. Roughly 30 minutes to prepare, plus 30 minutes' resting; 3 to 4 minutes to fry.
Ingredients
- 500 g floury potato, boiled and mashed
- 500 g bacalhau, desalted and shredded, boiled and flaked fine
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 tbsp, chopped a generous handful of chopped parsley
- 1 small onion, grated a little grated onion
- to taste black pepper
- to taste salt, to taste, added only after tasting since the cod carries residual seasoning
- as needed oil, for deep frying
Method
- Boil the potato and the bacalhau separately; mash the potato and flake the cod fine.
- Fold the cod through the mash with the beaten eggs, parsley, grated onion and black pepper; taste before adding salt.
- Rest the mixture in the fridge at least 30 minutes, which firms the fat and lets the starch bind properly so the fritters hold together in the fryer.
- Shape into ovals with two spoons and fry at 180 to 190°C for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until deep golden, without disturbing them further while they set.
What a modern chef changes
A deliberately chosen grade of fish, and even citrus across every bite
Method
- Choose the bacalhau grade deliberately: a genuine Atlantic loin, poached and flaked by hand, gives a coarser, more distinct flake through the fritter than commodity desfiado, worth the premium here precisely because the fish is the point rather than a background note.
- Dehydrate the parsley briefly and grind it fresh into the mash immediately before frying, for a cleaner green note than wilted fresh herb gives once folded through hot potato.
- Fry in batches at a closely monitored 185°C using a probe thermometer rather than judging by eye.
- Finish with a light dusting of dehydrated lemon zest rather than a wedge on the side, so the citrus note is even across every bite rather than concentrated wherever the wedge happens to land.