Codfish can be found fresh but also dried and salted. Salting and drying fish is a very ancient way of preservation. Remember that back in the days they had no fridges 🙂 In my country, codfish is one of the most traditional fishes and we use mainly the salted version. It’s so traditional that it’s one of our main dishes. We can find fresh cod but the salted one is always the choice.
Now I’ve noticed that we can also find salted/dried codfish in Malta. First I saw it at the Marsaxlokk Sunday market but I have also seen in it at my local GS supermarket. So if you like fish there’s no excuses – you got to try it 🙂
But don’t think that we cook it and eat it like that! There’s a whole process to remove the salt and rehydrate the codfish and I will explain it to you 🙂
Most of the time, we find the codfish already cut into pieces. If not, you can cut it yourself. It’s much easier to do it while still dried and makes the whole process easier. Now put the pieces of codfish in a large bowl and cover it with water. Make sure that all the pieces are underwater. Then leave it to soak between 24 and 48 hours (depends on your taste and how salty you want it to be in the end). During this time, you need to change the water several times to help remove the salt. Just remove the codfish pieces and clean the bowl of any salt residues. Wash the fish under running water, place it again in the bowl and add fresh water. I usually leave it for 48 hours and change the water 3 to 4 times a day. This will ensure the codfish is clean of salt and well hydrate. When ready, you can either cook it straight away or freeze it for later use.
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