Skip to main content

The fish that time forgot.

Smoked cod is still available in the fish section of the deli at the supermarket. You just don’t notice it any more. It’s the only fish that has been stocked continuously since the 1950s. I never see anyone buy it. People take numbers and line up for banana prawns and Tasmanian Atlantic salmon and ling and oysters and scallops and that rendered substance they call crab stick, but never the cod.

Further, I’ve never seen smoked cod served outside my own kitchen. It is the world’s only food never to have been served in a restaurant. Nor have I ever encountered smoked cod at a dinner party. Plenty of other smoke; smoked salmon, smoked ricotta, smoked beef, smoked gruyère, smoked eel, and in the old days, smoke itself in a couple of varieties; but smoked cod, no. Most tellingly, my mother, who in 1968, when she had seven children at home aged from brand new to seventeen and used to buy several kilograms of the stuff she called 'Cape Cod' weekly, has not served smoked cod at her table since 1987. Unless she’s doing it covertly.

All of which is a shame, because smoked cod makes an inexpensive, tasty dish that fills the house with a delicious aroma.

Smoked cod and white sauce.

Place two cups of milk in a pan. Add two pieces of smoked cod, a few peppercorns and some snipped parsley stalks. Keep the leaves to add later. Bring almost to a boil then turn down heat immediately. Cook gently for fifteen minutes then carefully remove fish and keep warm. Retain milk for the sauce.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in another pan. Add two tablespoons of flour and stir in, off the heat, until combined. Return to flame. Add the retained milk, slowly. Stir. Add half an onion, very finely chopped. Stir. Add a tablespoon of very finely chopped parsley. All going well, the sauce will thicken. You might need to add more milk. (Note: traditionally a thinner sauce was used for this dish when served around Easter. Play around with quantities to achieve the consistency you prefer. Don’t add salt. Don’t add garlic. There’s enough flavour in the fish. You want a bland sauce for contrast. The parsley is for texture and visual appeal. Even the onion is optional.)

Serve fish, covered in parsley sauce, with green beans and quartered potatoes that have been boiled to the point where they are almost breaking down, like old weathered hills (the way they were served as an accompaniment to the iconic cabbage soup at the gone but not forgotten Scheherezade café in Acland Street). Dust the potatoes with more finely chopped parsley and a little butter.

Serve this at your next dinner party and no-one will know what to drink with it. In fact, no-one will even know what it is.

Comments

  1. I believe we've had doppleganger childhoods.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KH, we used to have this served up when we were kids. I didn't like it then and the smell of it still makes me feel a little queasy now. Even seeing it in the supermarket turns me off.
    Sorry.
    Lesley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not a problem must trigger a subconscious memory. Hope something else in the supermarket is more to your liking.

      Delete
  3. I'm a Melbourne boy with one ex, a current wife and four kids. ... Neil, add one (kid) and we're square, except that I'm an Aries.

    Don't apologise, Lesley. More for me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it though the other half detests the very sight of it. I make it for myself once a year or so.

    Beetroot has become fashionable again so perhaps there is hope for smoked cod?

    ReplyDelete
  5. One of the few fish dishes I loved as a child. Maybe it was the salt.. Had it recently actually. Leftovers (if there are any) make for a great fritter too

    ReplyDelete
  6. It was a tea-time regular in our house when I was a child during the 70s. I still quite like it and serve it during the colder months. I think it was the beginning of my love affair with salt.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The beetroot, the cod, and then we can work on the Brussels Sprout, Rose.

    Martin, I actually buy extra to make leftovers, usually kedgeree.

    Smoke and salt - you can't beat the combination, Quince Poacher.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hallelujah! I'm cooking it tonight and I thought I'd look it up on the net out of curiosity. I remember it from my 50's childhood, country Victoria, and still love it. And there's not a lot of my mum's cooking that I remember with fondness - tripe anyone? Lamb's fry, complete with veins? Black pudding?

    I cook it regularly, but I've never met anyone else who likes it. And silver beet with a drop of vinegar. Yum!

    Stuart

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good day everyone,

    I have recently battered smoked cod in potato flour and added paprika, garlic salt, pepper, and tumeric. It makes for one of the most interesting fried fish dishes I have had to date. Definitely worth a try if you like the spices mentioned above.

    M

    ReplyDelete
  11. We used to have it on Good Friday as kids! Mum boiled it in water and served with mash and white sauce. I loved it and actually cooked it last night (hence me googling it this morning). It was so yummy - a potato and smoked cod pie. Beautiful flavours

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love the flavour. Poached with cream sauce. Might be old fashioned but so us beef wellington bread and butter pudding and boiled fruit cake..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yum. My Mum served this in the 70’s. Love it cooking some this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Loving these memories! My mum used to also cook it in water and serve with mash and white sauce (and boiled eggs). It's lovely to rediscover this. I love you're poaching in milk. I'm going to use mashed cauliflower rather than potato for the carb. Thankyou for posting this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just made it for myself. First time in many years. OMG it was beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  16. My Nana makes this every single Good Friday (except with no onion or parsley and with corn instead). I just had my husband go buy me a kilo of smoked cod as tomorrow is the first Easter in my life I won't be able to see my Nana due to home isolation, and don't want to miss out, it's always the winning dish with the entire extended family. I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing, but just wanted to double check. But even down to the side dishes, it's my Good Friday Lunch! Thanks for that, lovely to see other families know this dish exsists lol

    ReplyDelete
  17. We love it... it’s our traditional go to for Good Friday dinner yum yum! And way cheaper than prawns and salmon!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Just tried your recipe had it over with mash potato and carrot delicious thanks will have it again

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment