Traditional basque recipe : Cod in pil pil sauce.
Cod in pil pil sauce:
One of the most emblematic dishes of the Basque Country is “Bacalao al Pil Pil”. Let’s go back to 1835, when Simón Gurtubay, a merchant from Bilbao who imported cod from Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, placed an order by sending a telegram requesting 100 or 120 units of top-quality cod.
It seems that the person who received the telegram confused the “o” with a “0” and sent 1,000,120 units. From this situation arose the true recipe for cod in pil pil sauce, with olive oil, garlic, and chili pepper.
Preparation
In a skillet, add abundant olive oil (it should cover most of the cod), the head of garlic, and the chili pepper, all over low heat.
When the garlic is tender and slightly translucent, add the cod with the skin side up and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the cod, garlic, and chili pepper from the skillet.
In a bowl, remove the majority of the oil, leaving only the white substance released by the cod in the skillet, rich in gelatin.
Now comes the difficult part: emulsifying the sauce.
The traditional method involves continuously and circularly moving the oil with the gelatin released by the cod during cooking. Be careful, the oil must be at a low temperature.
As the sauce thickens, gradually add spoonfuls of the reserved oil.
When the sauce is ready, pour it over the cod.
Now enjoy your Bacalao al pil pil !
Recipe
800g of salted cod
One head of garlic
One chili pepper
Olive oil
Sal
