[Sca-cooks] A Piece of the One True Cod

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Sep 28, 2006, at 4:42 PM, SilverR0se at aol.com wrote:

> ...is what I happened to find at the market yesterday. That's what  
> they
> called it, as opposed, I guess,  to Pacifc Cod which they were also  
> selling. I've
> wanted to try it since I read Mark Kurlansky's book.
>
> Keeping in mind that I live in Los Angeles and haven't had the  
> advantages of
> those of you on the East Coast and especially in New England, I have 2
> questions.
>
> First, what do I do with it other than deep-frying (which I am not  
> equipt to
> do) in batter?

Chowder is one direction you can go in: basically New England Clam  
Chowder with cod instead of clams (this is the "original" anyway),  
with salt pork -- or bacon for weenies -- onion, potatoes and either  
fish stock or a mixture of wine or beer with water and butter, or  
milk and cream (again, for weenies). The stock -and-butter version  
_is_ allowed to have a tomato product added, revisionist history  
notwithstanding. Some New Englanders may claim adding tomato makes it  
non-New England (and therefore from such unsavory places as Montauk,  
but Montauk's a stone's throw across Long Island Sound from Block  
Island, and from there to Newport is another stone's throw, so poo on  
them. But real Montauk chowder is made with tautog or blackfish, a  
rock-dwelling wrasse, anyway.

For the most part, these chowders are made pretty much like an Irish  
stew: layer your solid ingredients in a deep casserole or Dutch oven,  
top off with the liquid, and cook in the oven or on top of the stove.  
Once upon a time this would have been thickened with crumbled ship's  
biscuit, but nowadays it is often omitted or a roux substituted.

There are a lot of Spanish, Portuguese, and Basque preparations with  
cod, and the basic theme is olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, maybe some  
white wine and parsley. There are still other preparations from  
Spain, Portugal and the Basque country which are intended for salt  
cod, and while some of them are similar, you can't always substitute.  
Brandade made with fresh cod is horrible and sort of pointless, for  
example, but with salt cod and enough brandade, you can conquer nations.

You can do a pseudo-Scottish "stovey" sauteed dish of fillets or  
steaks pressed down onto a plate of dry oatmeal (pinhead or steel- 
cut, ideally), sauteed oat-side down until golden on one side in  
butter or bacon fat, then flipped over carefully and finished,  
uncovered, on the other side (bearing in mind total cooking of 8-10  
minutes per inch of thickness).

And then, there's always the standard baked-under-buttered-or-olive- 
oil-moistened crumbs, in a moderately hot oven (maybe 400 degrees F),  
for that 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness, with a parsley or caper- 
or-mild-mustard-flavored cream sauce on the side...

>
>
> Second, since Fish and Chips comes to mind, how is Malt Vinegar  
> made? After
> all, wine vinegar comes from wine and cider vinegar comes from  
> cider, but what
> does malt vinegar come from? Is there enough alcohol in beer to  
> make vinegar?

There could be, but I wouldn't recommend Bud (in fact, I don't  
recommend it for watering plants or washing sidewalks, either).  
AFAIK, malt vinegar is made either from unhopped ale or directly from  
dilute malt syrup.

Adamantius