The days of baccala

The days of baccala: (cod, morue)

When my mother prepared Baccala, I went on strike. For her and my father it was a real delight, not for Sultana.

« Mais mange un bout, c’est délicieux !’

« Non ! »

Baccala at the outset is dried cod in salt. It is hung out in the air to dry.

It has a strange aspect, like a greyish dead leaf. Of course the smell is tremendous;

So you bought your baccala at the market and put it in a basin with water overnight.

This way it lost a good part of its salt.

As it could not be cooked in that state, the old-fashioned mincing machine was attached to a table and the baccala, cut into smaller pieces, was introduced one after the other into the horn-like opening and the handle twisted. That was how meat and baccala were minced.

The operation was repeated as many times as was necessary using strength and patience!

Finally when all the baccala was minced, my mother added a boiled potato and an egg and

kneaded it till it became a unified paste. Then one after the other she formed balls the size of a golf ball. When all the paste had been turned into balls, it was time to fry them. There were no deep fryers so it was a slow job to fry all these balls.

After that a very spicy tomato sauce was prepared from fresh tomatoes tabaan (of course) and one by one the baccala balls were put into the sauce to absorb part of it. It was served with rice greatly appreciated with every meal!

I do not know if I could ever eat baccala even now! But I keep baccala day in my mind and I remember what an extraordinary cook my mother was!