Cod Fritters (Buñuelos de Bacalao)

History

Buñuelos de bacalao (Portuguese bolinho de bacalhau) are fritters of shredded salt cod fried in oil, a dish that is a well-established gastronomic specialty across Southern Europe, including Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. Salt cod itself keeps well and is easy to preserve, and during Lent (Cuaresma) — when the consumption of meat was prohibited — it became a principal ingredient in Spanish home cooking. The earliest published recipes for the dish are documented in Portuguese sources: the oldest published recipe was written by the Portuguese Visconde de Vilarinho de São Romão in 1841, though that early version described fried slices of cod rather than fritters as such; the better-known fritter recipe appears in the 1904 cookbook of the Portuguese officer Carlos Bandeira de Melo (Carlos Bento da Maia). The version preserved here is recorded in La Mejor Cocinera: Recetas de Cocina, a comprehensive Spanish home-cookery manual published by Editorial (Saturnino) Calleja in Madrid; the Biblioteca Nacional de España dates its edition to 1921. The book carries no named author; Saturnino Calleja was the publisher, not the recipe's author. Its method — poaching and carefully boning the salt cod, mincing it to a paste, binding it with flour dissolved in milk and egg yolks, letting it rest, then folding in egg whites beaten to stiff peaks (a punto de nieve) and frying spoonfuls in very hot olive oil — is set out in the book's own printed recipe. Beyond this, the historical record I could source does not document a single verified birthplace, a class of eaters, or a specific social status for this particular recipe.

Ingredients

• 250 g Salt cod (bacalao)
• 100 g Wheat flour
• 240 ml Milk
• 3 whole Egg yolks
• 3 whole Egg whites
• Olive oil for frying

Instructions

1. Poach the salt cod until tender, then remove the skin and bones carefully. Mince the flesh very finely until it reaches a paste-like consistency.
2. Dissolve the flour in milk and combine with the minced cod, working the mixture thoroughly. Add the three egg yolks and work the paste well again. Let it rest for a short time.
3. When ready to fry, beat the three egg whites to stiff peaks (a punto de nieve) and fold them into the paste.
4. Heat a generous quantity of olive oil until very hot. Drop spoonfuls of the paste into the oil and fry until golden.