Morue à la Bénédictine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large nonreactive container for soaking
• •3-quart saucepan
• •Potato ricer or food mill
• •Large heatproof mixing bowl and sturdy wooden spoon, or stand mixer with paddle
• •Shallow 1½-quart broiler-safe gratin dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Desalt the morue

   Put the dry morue in a nonreactive container and cover it generously with cold water. Refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours, changing the water 3 or 4 times; thick pieces need the longer soak. Keep it cold throughout. After 24 hours, poach a thumbnail-sized piece in fresh water for 2 minutes and taste it. It should remain pleasantly saline but not harsh; if the salt dominates completely, give the fish another change of water and several more hours.

   Never judge the salt by tasting the uncooked fish. Poaching a tiny test piece tells you exactly where the seasoning stands without committing the whole batch.
2. 2

   Cook and dry potatoes

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Cover the potatoes with cold unsalted water, bring them gently to a simmer, and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, until a knife passes through without resistance. Drain thoroughly, spread them in a small baking dish, and dry them in the oven for 5 minutes, until their surfaces look chalky and no water remains in the dish. Pass them through a ricer or food mill into a warmed mixing bowl. Wet potato makes a loose, watery paste, so this brief drying stays.

   Use a floury potato such as Russet or Bintje. Waxy potatoes resist the oil and become elastic when beaten.
3. 3

   Poach the morue

   Put the soaked morue in a wide saucepan and cover it by 1 inch with fresh cold water. Bring the water up slowly until tiny bubbles collect around the edge, then lower the heat and poach without boiling for 8 to 10 minutes, until the flesh separates in moist flakes. Drain immediately. While the fish is still hot, remove every scrap of skin and bone and break the flesh into small pieces. Keep it covered and warm while you heat the milk; boiled morue turns tight and cottony, but a gentle poach leaves it ready to take the oil.

4. 4

   Pound while hot

   Bring the milk just to a full boil, then keep it hot over the lowest heat. Add the hot morue to the riced potato and pound vigorously with a sturdy wooden spoon, or use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle on low speed, until the two become a fine, even paste. Beat in the oil one spoonful at a time, waiting until each addition disappears before adding the next. Follow with the hot milk in small splashes, beating until the paste falls from the spoon in slow, mellow folds. If oil beads on the surface, stop adding it and beat in 1 tablespoon of the measured hot milk; ça se rattrape. If the paste stiffens because it has cooled, set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and continue gently. If it becomes too loose, stir it over low heat for a minute or two until it regains body. Do not put the finished mixture through a blender, which turns the potato gluey.

5. 5

   Dome and colour

   Heat the broiler fully and butter a shallow 1½-quart gratin dish with about 1 teaspoon of the butter. Spoon in the warm preparation and shape it into a low, generous dome without packing it down. Melt the remaining butter and trickle it evenly over the surface. Carry out Gratins (No. 268) in its rapid form: set the dish 5 to 6 inches below the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, rotating once, until the butter bubbles at the rim and the dome takes an irregular butter-gold colour. Watch it continuously, because the difference between coloured and scorched is a short conversation. Rest for 5 minutes and serve from its dish. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose thick Icelandic or Newfoundland morue with firm white flesh and a clean sea smell. The listed weight is for the dry fish before soaking, exactly as the formula sets it down.
• •Potato remains half the dry weight of the morue. More potato may make the mixture cheaper and easier to shape, but it also buries the fish and turns Bénédictine into ordinary mashed potato.
• •No garlic, cheese, breadcrumbs, herbs, or pepper enter this formula. The melted butter supplies the only finish, and the brief colouring should deepen the surface without building a hard crust.
• •A dry Picpoul de Pinet suits the saline cod and olive oil without crowding them. Serve a sharp green salad afterward rather than beside the gratin, which deserves the plate to itself.

Advance Preparation

• •Begin soaking the morue 24 to 36 hours before cooking, changing the water 3 or 4 times and keeping the container refrigerated.
• •The preparation can be assembled and domed in its buttered dish up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate, then warm it covered at 325°F (165°C) for 20 to 25 minutes before adding the melted butter and applying the rapid gratin finish.
• •Finished leftovers keep refrigerated for up to 2 days. Reheat them covered at gentle heat, then refresh the surface with a little butter under the broiler; repeated hard beating will make the potato heavy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 410g)