Spanish
Bacalao al Pil-Pil (Basque Salt Cod in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce)
Bacalao al Pil-Pil (Basque Salt Cod in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce) is Spanish home cooking, eaten at lunch. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb dried salt cod
- 1.5 cups extra virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 dried guindilla chilies
How to cook it
- Soak the salt cod in cold water for 24 to 48 hours, changing the water three or four times, then drain and pat the pieces dry, keeping the skin on since it holds the gelatin that thickens the sauce.
- Warm the olive oil gently in a wide heavy pan with the sliced garlic and the dried chilies until the garlic turns golden, then lift out the garlic and chilies and set them aside.
- Lower the heat so the oil is only barely warm, add the cod pieces skin side down, and let them poach gently for about 10 minutes, spooning the oil over them, until the fish just turns opaque.
- Remove the pan from the heat, lift out the cod, and pour all but a few spoonfuls of the oil into a jug, leaving behind the cloudy gelatin the fish released.
- Let the pan cool for a minute, then swirl it in steady circles while drizzling the reserved oil back in a spoonful at a time, so the gelatin and the oil emulsify into a thick, pale golden sauce; it takes patience and a steady wrist rather than any tool.
- Once the sauce holds together, return the cod pieces to the pan, spoon the pil-pil sauce over them, and scatter the reserved garlic and chilies on top before serving straightaway.
Serve it with
A Spanish lunch is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Bacalao al Pil-Pil (Basque Salt Cod in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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Something to sip
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The cooked vegetable
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What it is eaten with
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Bacalao al Pil-Pil (Basque Salt Cod in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce) carries fish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | Yes | Ajoblanco (Chilled Malaga Almond and Garlic Soup) |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- High
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Meat or fish
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Bacalao al Pil-Pil (Basque Salt Cod in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce) takes about 45 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a proper project. It is eaten at lunch. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on cod.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from northern Spain.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.