Codfish Recipes

Codfish is the closest thing there is to a 'generic' fish. 'Fishsticks', 'fish filets', 'fish and chips' - any food dish that calls itself 'fish' is quite likely codfish. It is one of the most eaten fish in the world.

In the early days of sailing, when it was necessary for foodstocks to last for long periods of time, cod was caught and salted - that is, packed down in layers of salt, which dried out and preserved the flesh into something like a 'fish jerky'. Salt cod, if properly dried, can last quite a long time, but must be soaked to soften it and remove some of the heavy salt flavor before using in recipes.

With modern refrigeration, salting fish to preserve it isn't as vital as it once was, but salted cod continues to have its fans, long after its necessity has passed into history.

Fresh cod, of course, makes up the bulk of the codfish used as food today, either in fresh filets sold at the grocery store's fish counter, or in prepared foods such as frozen breaded fish patties and sticks. Codfish and tartar sauce were literally made for one another.

The codfish also gave its name to one of the settlements established early in the colonization of the North American continent, now a tourist destination, Cape Cod in Massachusetts.