He is the king and lord of Portuguese recipes, and so you must keep the following tips with great care and remember them when choosing codfish.
Good cod is from the Atlantic (Gadus morhua), with thick fillets that splinter perfectly after cooking, unlike Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus). Opt for a very dry and uniformly coloured piece, buy it whole and ask the various parts to be cut – loins, fillets, flaps and tail. To determine whether the cod was salted in the high seas, check if the part where the head was is flat. To soak your cod, use chef Vítor Sobral’s tips, an expert in the technique: “The process of soaking cod is what makes it regain the level of water it lost during drying; you must follow certain precautions. First of all, rinse the cod under running water to remove excess salt. Then, place the cod in a container with cold water with the skin facing up (so that the skin does not prevent the salt from coming out) covered with water. This should always be done with cold water and in the refrigerator. The water should be changed twice a day. Soaking time depends on the type of cut: the loins will take longer than the finer cuts; it is best to soak them separately. The loins, the cut that we will use in this week’s recipe, can take up to 4 to 5 days to be properly soaked. Be careful not to oversoak it; cod should always be slightly salty, with the flavour the Portuguese love so much!”
