Interspersed throughout the text are recipes for cod, from Roman and Old English times to present-day. An entire section, The Cook's Tale, contains "Six Centuries of Cod Recipes". Kurlansky finishes well, with an extensive bibliography and index.
This is a fascinating look at a world history driven by cod. I recommend it for a cold winter evening by the fire, with a glass of port and a dish of Jamaican Stomp-and-Go close to hand.
Mix 1 pound flour with water until it is thin
Add 1/2 pound soaked, broiled and crumbled salt cod.
Beat in 2 eggs.
Add a little baking powder, sautéed onions, scallion, thyme.
Mix together
Drop spoonsful in hot oil.
—Alphonso MacLean, Terra Nova Hotel, Kingston
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Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
I lived on Cape Cod for five years, the history of that area is so intertwined with fishing in general and cod specifically, I will have to read this book.
2 - DrPat
Thoreau was amazed at the lack of quality control he observed on the salting docks at Cape Cod. He wrote about seeing a young fish salter spit tobacco into the drying fish, and waited for the salting foreman to chastise his worker. Instead, he observed the older man do the same thing a few minutes later!
3 - Jim Carruthers
In his book, "The Secret Life of Lobsters", Trevor Corson details how the destruction of the cod fishery in the Maritimes, meant the lobster fishery could thrive in the last decade. Scientists discovered cod were the major predator of baby lobsters (they did this by super-gluing lobster spawn to mono-filament line and a tile and videoing what ate them.
The neighborhood I live in has a large Portuguese population, so Bacalhau is on the menu at most of the restaurants and bars.
4 - Aaman
That super-glue must have really bugged the cod
5 - SFC SKI
The Portugese have some great recipes, I hope I get back up to the Cape this year to get my fix of fish. Florida cuisine is a little different.
Always liked the Maritimes, too bad I am so far from them now.
6 - Jim Carruthers
My favourite Portuguese meal (which included cod) was in the then-Portuguese colony of Macao in a 16th century building overlooking the Pearl river delta, and drinking really fine wine imported from Portugal at really low cost because it was the last and first outpost of their empire.
7 - SFC SKI
One of the only regrets I have about not joining a sea-going service was that I haven't gotten to places like Macao, or most of the PAcific for that matter. My buddy is a square-knot sailorm, and he has some great experiences (as well as tattoos and penicillin shots ;) ) from the ports of call he has been too in that part of the world. The Portugese were actually first to the Persian Gulf , IIRC, but I don't think they had quite the longevity or cultural influence in that part of the world.
8 - Jim Carruthers
You think that might be due to a trend in history called the Moors who occupied Iberia and the Ottoman Empire? Just asking.
but I don't think they had quite the longevity or cultural influence in that part of the world.
Which, aside from cod, explains the popularity of mixed pork and seafood dishes in Portugal and Spain because they made it really difficult for Muslims and Jews.
9 - DrPat
Jim: The recipe section of the book has the history of and instructions for cooking Bacalao a la Vizcaina, a dish that is part of the standard repertoire for any Basque chef. Its characteristic flavor comes from the choricero, a tiny red pepper that grows in the province of Vizcaya.
Kurlansky also points out what we see labelled as "cod" on a restaurant menu is usually "hake", the unsalted fresh meat of the codfish.
10 - SFC SKI
Actually, the Portugese attempts at colonization in the Gulf were in the 1500's, after the Moors had been kicked out of Spain. I think that Portugal was also a center for maratime learning in that time period, as well. In any case, unless Macao and Curacao, the ME does not have a large amount of Portugese colonial heritage, though I did go to the remains of a Portugese bastion built in Fujairahm UAE.
11 - Jim Carruthers
The influence of Portugal in the middle east is irrelevant.
The real fruit and produce which comes from the bush is found in Brazil's Carmen Miranda.
And there's some sort of relationship to the smell of fish like cod.
12 - Angela Chen Shui
Jamaica's national dish is 'Ackee and Saltfish', which is what we call salted cod here. Salted cod has been a cheap protein staple from as far back as slavery days.
It is impossible to attend a 'good' Jamaican buffet and not be served ackee and saltfish. It's a dish that can be served for any one of the three major meals.
With breakfast and lunch, it's particularly good with boiled green bananas, fried plaintain, callaloo, fried dumpling and of course, hot chocolate boiled from the handmade round cocoa balls. mmmmmm..... delicious!
Go deh wid di 'stomp and go' recipe, Dr. Pat!!! ;-)
13 - DrPat
Ackee is a fruit brought from West Africa to Jamaica by Captain Bligh of Bounty infamy. If not picked when fully ripe, it is somewhat toxic. So I think I'll stick with "Stomp-and-Go", thanks!
14 - Angela Chen Shui
No prob... stomp and go or ackee, they're both delicious,,,, many people eat them together...
But as our national dish, we would have mastered its preparation, eh? Haitians, with all their voodoo stuff, are awed that Jamaicans eat a poisonous fruit that they don't touch!
;-)
15 - DrEnglish
It is unfortunate, but a lot of what Kurlansky says in this book simply isn't true. He has invented a number of stories (1,000 Basques boats in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534? Hysterical.), and refers to documents which no one else - including historians who have been studying the subject for decades - has ever heard of. It is an enjoyable yarn, but nothing more.
16 - Lee form Jamaica Travel and Culture .com
I agree with Angela Chen. Cases of ackee poisoning are very rare. See my page on ackees for more information.