Bacalhau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bacalhau, Lisbon
Bacalao in Spanish supermarket
Pastel de Bacalhau, Lisbon
Bacalao à Braz

Bacalhau is the traditional preparation of salted cod, a form of clipfish , that is common in Portugal and Brazil . In Spain very similar preparations are common under the name Bacalao .

The national dish Bacalhau is one of the national Portuguese symbols, like the Fado or the sanctuary of Fátima , and is a theme in literature, fine arts, theater, film and photography. The reference to the tradition of Bacalhau often serves to assure the Portuguese as a seafaring nation.

history

Portuguese fishermen (like fishermen from England, Brittany and Normandy) adopted the technique of preserving fish with salt from fishermen from the Basque Country who had developed this technique around the year 1500 . Every year, European fishermen headed for the fish-rich waters of the Newfoundland Bank in the North Atlantic to fish for cod and salt it in makeshift huts on site. In the centuries that followed, however, the Portuguese lost access to the fishing grounds that were now ruled by England, which had colonized Newfoundland . Portugal began to import the salted cod, which was an everyday dish for large parts of the population, instead. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that Bacalhau developed into a food that the upper classes, especially during Lent, demanded. A distinction was made between different qualities of Bacalhau, depending on the salt content and color.

After the bacalhau had been imported for centuries, Portuguese fishermen returned to the Newfoundland Bank in the 19th century. Around the same time, the idea of ​​a special Portuguese Bacalhau tradition came up, which was initially understood as a tradition of fishing, and which should historically substantiate and underpin the claim of the Portuguese to fish for cod off Newfoundland. This cod was salted on board and then landed "green" in the Portuguese ports of Lisbon , Figueira da Foz and Aveiro and dried there.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, bacalhau and its preparation rose to become a national dish. The Bacalhau tradition developed into the starting point for a Portuguese national cuisine with literally a thousand different recipes that have had a prominent place in Portuguese cookbooks since the 20th century. The bacalhau as a Portuguese staple food and the glorious return to the fishing grounds in the North Atlantic were subsequently mythically inflated and exploited for propaganda purposes. Portuguese diaspora communities around the world hold on to Bacalhau as a connecting element with their Portuguese homeland. In 2011 there were 55 Bacalhau Academies around the world dedicated to the preservation of this culinary heritage - the first was founded in Johannesburg in 1968 . Although the importance of bacalhau as an everyday dish has declined due to new preservation methods and a general increase in the standard of living, Portugal was still the country with the world's highest consumption of salted cod in 2003 (30 kg per capita per year).

In the 21st century, Portuguese bacalhau production is limited to the processing of imported cod, but the culinary tradition is propagated and kept alive, not least by the influential industry. The manufacturing process has been recognized and protected as a Guaranteed Traditional Specialty since 2014 .

Traditional specialty guaranteed

On April 23, 2014, Bacalhau de Cura Tradicional Portuguesa was registered as a guaranteed traditional specialty in the EU at the request of the Associação dos Industriais do Bacalhau .

Known preparations

In Portugal and Brazil , Bacalhau is traditionally processed into a variety of different culinary dishes. One saying goes that there are 365 different recipes , one for each day of the year, another saying goes as far as over 1000 recipes.

  • Bolinhos de Bacalhau (small fried cakes made from potatoes, stockfish, parsley, etc.)
  • Bacalhau à Brás (cod fried with potato sticks and onions, whisked eggs are added last)
  • Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá (the most famous variation is that from Porto)
  • Bacalhau com Natas (stockfish with cream)
  • Bacalhau à Zé do Pipo

Web links

Commons : Cod dishes of Portugal  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • António José Marques da Silva: The fable of the cod and the promised sea . In: Filipe Themudo Barata, João Magalhães Rocha (Ed.): Heritages and Memories from the Sea | Conference Proceedings . 2015, ISBN 978-989-99442-0-6 , pp. 130 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ António José Marques da Silva: The fable of the cod and the promised sea . In: Filipe Themudo Barata, João Magalhães Rocha (Ed.): Heritages and Memories from the Sea | Conference Proceedings . 2015, ISBN 978-989-99442-0-6 , pp. 130-140 .
  2. ^ António José Marques da Silva: The fable of the cod and the promised sea . In: Filipe Themudo Barata, João Magalhães Rocha (Ed.): Heritages and Memories from the Sea | Conference Proceedings . 2015, ISBN 978-989-99442-0-6 , pp. 130-140 .
  3. ^ António José Marques da Silva: The fable of the cod and the promised sea . In: Filipe Themudo Barata, João Magalhães Rocha (Ed.): Heritages and Memories from the Sea | Conference Proceedings . 2015, ISBN 978-989-99442-0-6 , pp. 130-140 .
  4. ^ António José Marques da Silva: The fable of the cod and the promised sea . In: Filipe Themudo Barata, João Magalhães Rocha (Ed.): Heritages and Memories from the Sea | Conference Proceedings . 2015, ISBN 978-989-99442-0-6 , pp. 130-140 .
  5. ^ António José Marques da Silva: The fable of the cod and the promised sea . In: Filipe Themudo Barata, João Magalhães Rocha (Ed.): Heritages and Memories from the Sea | Conference Proceedings . 2015, ISBN 978-989-99442-0-6 , pp. 130-140 .
  6. ↑ Entry of a name in the register of traditional specialties guaranteed (Bacalhau de Cura Tradicional Portuguesa (GTS)). (PDF) Retrieved October 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Entry of a name in the register of traditional specialties guaranteed (Bacalhau de Cura Tradicional Portuguesa (GTS)). (PDF) Retrieved October 5, 2019 .