Bacalao, bacalhau, and verdura - was, Re: [Sca-cooks] Thanksgiving feasts

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Huette von Ahrens wrote:


> Actually, bacalao is Portuguese and is _fresh_ cod.  I
> am assuming that the verdura is your creation?  This
> recipe is very different from what I had when I was in
> Portugal.

Um, I'm not proficient in either Spanish or Portuguese, but let me throw
out a few ideas.

Note that I said bacalao, not bacalhau (I understand that is the
Portuguese spelling), and that the usage I describe appears to be
Spanish-speaking Caribbean in origin. Since cod isn't really native to
the waters off anyplace where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, except
New England, it's a fairly safe bet that when someone, at least far
enough in the past whose established habits have become "tradition",
refers to cod, it'll be salted or otherwise preserved, just as
relatively few people deal with fresh herring or tuna too far from their
local fisheries. (Until fairly recently in the case of tuna.) However,
it may simply be a contraction /corruption of bacalhau no sal, or some
such, just as a lot of people don't bother to mention that their herring
is pickled or their tuna is canned. However, it appears that both the
Spanish and Portuguese terms do, technically, refer to "cod", rather
than "salt cod".

I suppose it's quite likely that the terms bacalao and bacalhau are
borrowed one from the other, but I believe the actual product is Basque,
originally. So does anybody know the Basquaise term?

  Verdura is a pretty generic term; it means vegetable. This particular
version includes those vegetables, but I expect there are different
vegetables in Spain and Portugal than in the Caribbean.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98