Chef Isabel
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Culinary Explorer
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Bacalao con Tomate Andaluz
Created by
Andalucía's everyday salt cod is floured, fried, and tucked into a slow tomato sofrito. Cook the sauce dark and sweet, then give the fish only enough time to turn tender.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
55 min cook•37 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Bacalao con tomate is Andalusian everyday cooking: thick pieces of desalted cod, lightly floured and fried, then settled into a tomato sauce built with onion, green pepper, and garlic. It belongs especially to the meatless cooking of Cuaresma, Lent. Here tomato leads, unlike Basque bacalao a la vizcaína, where choricero peppers lead, or Catalan bacallà amb samfaina, which brings aubergine and courgette.
The method that decides the dish is the sofrito, the slow-cooked vegetable base. Cook the onion and pepper until soft and dark gold at the edges, then give the tomato enough time to lose its raw brightness and turn thick, dark, and sweet. When a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a path for two seconds and little beads of oil show at the rim, it's ready. If the tomato still tastes sharp, it needs time, not sugar.
Salt cod travels well by its nature, so you can make this far from Andalucía. Buy thick, skin-on pieces and allow them a full 36 hours in cold water. If salt cod truly cannot be found, firm fresh hake is the substitute a Spanish household would use, but the result is milder and softer, and its proper name becomes merluza con tomate.
Once the sauce is right, the cod needs only a few minutes. Let it simmer too long and it tightens into cotton. My Margin has the correction plainly: the fish waits for the tomato, never the other way round. Follow that and it comes out. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Across Andalucía, bacalao con tomate is tied to Cuaresma and Semana Santa, when abstinence from meat put preserved fish at the center of the table, even in inland towns far from a fishing port. Salt curing made cod dependable away from the coast, while the household sauce of onion, garlic, green pepper, and tomato turned it into filling, economical food. The thin flour coating serves a practical purpose: it helps the soaked cod hold together and gives the tomato sauce a little body.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
thick skin-on salt cod loin
Quantity
700g
cut into 4 equal portions
cold water for desalting
Quantity
10 litres
divided into four 2.5-litre changes
plain flour
Quantity
60g
mild olive oil
Quantity
120ml
45ml for the sofrito and 75ml for frying
onion
Quantity
180g
cut into 5mm dice
green bell pepper
Quantity
150g
seeded and cut into 5mm dice
garlic
Quantity
15g
thinly sliced
canned whole peeled tomatoes with their juice
Quantity
800g
crushed by hand
bay leaf
Quantity
1
fine sea salt (optional)
Quantity
0-3g
use only after tasting the finished sauce
crusty country bread (optional)
Quantity
300g
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| thick skin-on salt cod loincut into 4 equal portions | 700g |
| cold water for desaltingdivided into four 2.5-litre changes | 10 litres |
| plain flour | 60g |
| mild olive oil45ml for the sofrito and 75ml for frying | 120ml |
| onioncut into 5mm dice | 180g |
| green bell pepperseeded and cut into 5mm dice | 150g |
| garlicthinly sliced | 15g |
| canned whole peeled tomatoes with their juicecrushed by hand | 800g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| fine sea salt (optional)use only after tasting the finished sauce | 0-3g |
| crusty country bread (optional)for serving | 300g |
Equipment Needed
- •Nonreactive bowl or container, at least 3 litres
- •Wide heavy casserole or sauté pan, 28-30cm
- •Heavy frying pan, 28cm
- •Fish spatula or broad slotted turner
- •Instant-read thermometer, optional
Instructions
- 1
Desalt the cod
Put the cod skin-side up in a nonreactive bowl and cover it with 2.5 litres of cold water. Refrigerate for 36 hours, replacing the water with another 2.5 litres every 9 hours. Keep it cold throughout. Drain, remove any pin bones, and pat every surface completely dry.
Pieces thicker than 3cm may need 48 hours. To check, cut off a small flake from the thickest piece, cook it for 30 seconds in simmering water, and taste it. It should be pleasantly seasoned, not aggressively salty. - 2
Soften the vegetables
Heat 45ml olive oil in a wide casserole over medium-low heat. Add the onion and green pepper. Cook for 14 to 16 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until completely soft and dark gold around the edges. Add the sliced garlic and cook for 2 minutes, just until fragrant and pale gold.
- 3
Cook the tomato down
Add the crushed tomatoes and bay leaf. Bring them to a lively simmer, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring more often as the sauce thickens. It is ready when the color has deepened to brick red, a spoon leaves a clear path across the pan for two seconds, and small beads of olive oil appear around the edge. This slow cook removes the tomato's raw sharpness and gives the dish its sweetness.
Don't add sugar to hurry the tomato along. If the sauce tastes sharp or watery, cook it for another 5 to 10 minutes. - 4
Flour the cod
While the tomato finishes, spread the flour in a shallow dish. Press the dry cod lightly into it, coating all sides, then shake off every loose patch. You want a thin veil of flour, not a heavy crust.
- 5
Fry the cod
Heat the remaining 75ml olive oil in a 28cm frying pan over medium heat until it shimmers. Fry the cod in two batches so the pan stays hot, skin-side down first for 2 minutes, then for 1 minute on the other side. The flour should be pale gold and set, but the fish should not yet be cooked through. Lift it onto a plate.
Dry cod and properly heated oil are what keep the coating attached. If the oil is cool, the flour drinks it and sticks to the pan. - 6
Finish in the sauce
Remove the bay leaf and taste the tomato before adding any salt. Nestle the cod into the sauce skin-side down and spoon a little tomato over each piece. Cover loosely and simmer over low heat for 4 to 6 minutes, without turning, until the thickest part is opaque and separates into moist flakes. It should reach 63°C at the center if checked with a thermometer.
- 7
Rest and serve
Take the casserole off the heat and let the cod rest in the sauce for 5 minutes. Taste the sauce once more and add no more than 3g salt if it truly needs it. Carry the dish to the table in its casserole and serve with bread for mopping up the dark, glossy tomato.
Chef Tips
- •Buy salt cod in thick loin pieces rather than thin tail ends or shredded trimmings. Thick pieces desalt more evenly and stay succulent while the tomato finishes them.
- •Good canned whole tomatoes are the honest choice when fresh tomatoes are out of season. In late summer, replace them with 1kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and grated, then allow another 10 minutes of cooking because fresh fruit carries more water.
- •If salt cod is unavailable, use 700g firm skin-on hake in four portions. Season it with 5g fine salt 30 minutes before cooking, pat it dry, then flour and fry as written. Finish it in the sauce for only 3 to 4 minutes. It will be softer and lack the cured depth of bacalao.
- •Salt only after the cod has finished in the sauce. Even properly soaked bacalao releases some seasoning as it cooks, and a sauce that seemed mild beforehand can be exactly right afterward.
- •Serve it with pan cateto or another sturdy country loaf. If you pour wine, a cold manzanilla from Sanlúcar or a dry fino stands up cleanly to the salt cod and tomato.
- •Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 2 days. Reheat once, covered, over low heat just until hot; hard boiling makes the cod dry.
Advance Preparation
- •Begin desalting 36 hours before cooking. Very thick pieces may need 48 hours, so test a cooked flake before committing the fish to the sauce.
- •The tomato sauce can be cooked up to 2 days ahead, cooled promptly, and refrigerated in a covered container. Bring it to a gentle simmer before adding the fried cod.
- •For a weeknight meal, have the cod desalted and dried and the sauce already made. Frying and finishing the fish then takes about 15 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
665 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
2000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
66 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
51 g
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