It comes from the northern seas but is one of the favorite fish in our country. It's about the cod, better known as cod, which is fished in the northern areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans: Iceland, Norway, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are the main producers but in our country this product has become a real institution. We are the second country in the world for consumption, after Portugal, where it is said that there is a different recipe for every day of the year. Even in our country there are infinite ways of cooking it: in batter, fried, creamed, stewed, baked, sautéed and so on. Based on these, cod has very interesting nutritional properties for our body.
Cod and stockfish: the differences
Not to be confused with stockfish, as per ministerial decree, cod refers to northern gray cod prepared for conservation through salting while the stockfish with northern cod prepared by drying, i.e. without the use of salt. However, in Veneto stockfish assumes the name of cod, so much so that the cod alla vicentina is in fact prepared with stockfish. Instead, in the rest of the world the term cod means white meat fish - generally cod - produced with the salting method.
Actually, cod can also be salted first and then dried (the so-called dry cod), but we can only speak of cod if the absorbed salt content exceeds 18%. The stockfish is always and only dried, produced only in Norway and only in the winter months, while the cod is produced all year round not requiring particular climatic conditions. But how can a fish from Nordic culture have become one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine?
The history of cod and Pietro Querini
Cod has a very ancient history, dating back to the great European navigators: Portuguese, Spanish, Venetian and Genoese. It arrived in our country in the 100th century thanks to a Venetian merchant, the noble Pietro Querini, who was shipwrecked due to a storm in the English Channel, landing with part of his crew on Røst, the first island of the Lofoten archipelago. The crew was rescued by the local population and lived on the island for over XNUMX days before returning to Venice. During their stay on the island, Querini and his men learned from the local fishermen thecod preservation use. These people had a particular way of storing it: peeled, salted and air-dried for months. The fish became so hard that it was called “stockfiss”, stockfish, erroneously translated by us with the term cod. The report of the journey, in which the processing and food habits of the Norwegian inhabitants can be found, was deposited by the merchant himself with the authorities of the Serenissima.
But cod entered our culture with great enthusiasm in 1563, thanks to the Council of Trent which imposed on the faithful to respect the calendar of days of abstinence and lean: Fridays, Christmas Eve, Lent. Dried cod was the perfect substitute for meat: a versatile food that kept for a long time and was essential for the less well-off population thanks to its low cost and high nutritional value. The variety of cultures in Italy then did the rest, giving rise to various preparations with specialties that are an expression of the local tradition.
In addition to being an ideal product for long days at sea, cod was used as a barometer. It was hung with ropes from the masts of the ship, if the salt began to melt it meant that the humidity was increasing and that a storm was on the way. Thanks to maritime trade, cod soon traveled around the world.
Cod in Italy: culinary traditions from North to South
The confusion between cod and stockfish also refers to the names assigned to some typical dishes of Italian regional cuisine elaborated from North to South, such as creamed cod of the Venetians, the Vicenza-style cod (technically it is stockfish), the sweet and sour cod of the Ligurians, lo Genoese stockfish, cod alla livornese, To cappuccina, To painstaking, To Lucanian, To Romanian to get to Stoccu a ghiutta or to mammolese of the Calabrians and so on. But the notoriety of the cod is due not only to the low cost, to the method of conservation and to the nutritional ratio but also to a rule, the same as that of the pig, namely that of the cod nothing is thrown away: the famous oil is extracted from the liver, the eggs can be dried or boiled, the cheeks fried in batter, many love the tongue, in Nigeria the head is boiled, the stuffed stomach is famous in Sicily and Calabria but also in Japan, the dried skin can be fried or roasted, while the intestines serve as groundbait for salmon farming and the fishbone for isinglass.
Cod and nutritional values: the food of well-being
cod is a very fish thin, through the salting process it maintains most of the organoleptic properties. The cod consists mainly of water and a low amount of calories composed mainly of protein and "good fats", making it an excellent ally for those on a diet. Also, it contains Vitamins (especially those in group B that help the liver and intestines work properly) e omega 3,6,9: saturated fatty acids essential for our body as they cannot be synthesized. Contains arginine, a natural vasodilator, which helps keep blood pressure low. Finally it is rich in mineral salts such as sodium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc and selenium.
Unfortunately, however, the cod is rich in both cholesterol, Both sodium, two nutrients whose excessive intake can endanger cardiovascular health. It is also not recommended for those suffering from gastropathies of all types due to the processing method which can make digestion complicated. Also to be avoided in case of hyperuricemia and gout, due to the presence of a fair amount of uric acid.
The Brotherhood of Bacalà in defense of Vicenza cuisine
Cod is part of our gastronomic culture, especially in the Veneto region. So loved to create the Brotherhood of Bacalà alla Vicentina with the aim of safeguarding and spreading the ancient and original recipe of "Bacalà alla Vicentina" with over 400 years of history. Born in 1987, the fraternity is not limited to this: they publish books, are present in various national and foreign television broadcasts, organize parties, support events and voluntary associations and those that operate in food and wine and tourism, have even retraced the Querini's itinerary. They also created the Codfish Club for lovers of the dish, with the coordination of the restaurants that offer the original recipe in September (penultimate week) of each year and the Festa del Bacalà alla Vicentina in Sandrigo, the great event in which around 25 portions of this specialty are consumed , since 2010 included in the EuroFIR circuit among the 5 representative dishes of the Italian tradition in Europe.
