Recipe courtesy of Alice Waters and Kelsie Kerr

Brandade with Fresh Salted Cod

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Yield: 12 servings, as an appetizer
  • Total: 52 min
  • Prep: 10 min
  • Inactive: 2 min
  • Cook: 40 min
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Ingredients

3/4 pound fresh cod

Kosher salt

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoons peppercorns

1 sprig thyme

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 onion

5 cloves garlic

3 cups milk

1/4 pound baking potatoes, like russets

1/4 pound waxy potatoes, like Yukon Golds

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 stalks green garlic or 2 cloves garlic

Directions

  1. Salt the cod very generously with kosher salt. Place in a perforated pan or colander and let sit, refrigerated, for 2 days.
  2. Add the herbs, spices onion and garlic cloves to the milk and heat for 5 minutes, do not let boil. Add the cod and poach until tender, around 5 to 7 minutes.
  3. Gently remove the cod with a slotted spoon. Remove any bones and skin. Meanwhile peel and chunk the potatoes. Cook in well-seasoned water or better still, use the milk the fish was poached in. When the potatoes are tender drain, and puree them, either in a ricer or a mixer using the paddle attachment. Pull out 1/3 of the potatoes and add the cod.
  4. Mix well, at medium speed if using a mixer, drizzling in the olive oil and a bit of the cooking liquid. Keep mixing and adding liquid until the desired consistency is reached. Pound the green garlic or 2 cloves of garlic to a fine paste in a mortar and pestle and stir into the puree.
  5. For an even more full flavored brandade, pass the onion, garlic, and aromatics through a food mill and stir some of this puree in as well. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed

Let's Get Cooking!

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Adele H.

I've never reviewed a recipe before but was so disappointed in this one that I felt I should warn others that the part relating to the cod preparation is completely inadequate. You cannot simply "generously" salt the cod with kosher salt and then cook it two days later (yikes!. The resulting fish and milk broth were so salty that I had to throw everything out. The recipe should have included specific instructions for preparing the cod: the amount of salt and, critically, the fact that the fish must then be soaked in water after having sat in the fridge. Fresh-cod brandade is labor- intensive; cf. Thomas Keller's recipe, which I did not discover until after the fact. Saveur offers a simpler recipe for fresh-cod brandade but does not include the "generous" kosher salting of the cod, which would at least insure edibility.

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