Brandade de Morue (Pounded Salt Cod with Oil and Milk)

Ingredients

• salt cod
• 2 and a half décilitres oil
• 5 to 6 décilitres oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 and a half décilitres boiling milk
• pain de mie
• clarified butter

Instructions

1. Cut the cod into large squares and poach it for only 8 minutes, counted from the moment the boil declares itself, so that it is barely cooked.
2. Drain it at once on a sieve and remove all skin and bones.
3. Heat 2 and a half décilitres of oil in a sauté pan until it smokes.
4. Throw in the cleaned cod with a crushed clove of garlic and work it vigorously over the fire until it forms a fairly fine paste.
5. Draw the pan off the fire and work in 5 to 6 décilitres of oil, added in a thin stream, stirring strongly with the spatula throughout.
6. From time to time break the body of the paste with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of boiling milk, up to 2 and a half décilitres in all.
7. Continue until the brandade is very white and has the consistency of a potato purée.
8. Correct the seasoning last of all.
9. Dress in a timbale, raising the brandade into a pyramidal rock.
10. At the last moment, stick small triangles of pain de mie, fried in clarified butter, on top.