Venetian baccalà mantecato (whipped stockfish)

In Venice it is called baccalà, but it is made with stockfish: cod dried in the air, not salted. The recipe codified in 2001 by the Confraternita del Bacalà Mantecato calls for stockfish and extra virgin olive oil only: no cream, no butter. All the work is in the whipping, when the flaked fish is beaten with oil poured in a thin stream, as for mayonnaise.

Ingredients for 6, as a starter

• 500 g dried stockfish (or about 1.2 kg stockfish already soaked)
• 250–300 ml IL CONTE Blend, as much as it takes
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 bay leaf and a slice of lemon, for cooking
• Salt and white pepper
• Chopped parsley (optional)
• Grilled polenta or bread crostini, to serve

Method

1. If the stockfish is dried, keep it in cold water in the fridge for at least two days, changing the water at least once a day.
2. Cut it into pieces and put it in a pot of lightly salted cold water with the bay leaf and lemon. From the boil, simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Drain it, keeping some of the cooking water. While still warm, remove the skin and bones and flake it.
4. Put it in a bowl with the crushed garlic and start beating it with a wooden spoon, or with the flat beater of a stand mixer on low speed, pouring in the oil in a thin stream, a little at a time, so that it is absorbed. If it gets too stiff, add a spoonful of cooking water.
5. Keep going until it becomes a pale, soft cream that still has some strands. Remove the garlic, season with salt and pepper and add the parsley if you like.
6. Serve at room temperature on slices of grilled polenta or on crostini.

The right oil

Here the oil is half the dish and goes in generously: it needs a rounded extra virgin olive oil that is not too pungent, so it does not hide the fish. This is a job for the Blend; for the holidays, the 3-litre tin is enough for more than one batch.

Photo: Benreis, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.