How to cook stockfish: 4 recipes, one better than the other

If you are wondering how to cook stockfish, there are so many recipes that our tradition gives us. Here are the best ones.

Stockfish is one of the most used ways to preserve Nordic cod , together with cod. In fact, it is not uncommon for a certain confusion to arise between the two but today, with our recipes, we want to give you some advice on how to use cod dried by the icy arctic winds, namely stockfish. However, we advise you to take a look at the difference between cod and stockfish before getting into the kitchen.

How to soak stockfish

Also known as stockfish , this ingredient requires a minimum of time before it is ready to use in recipes. Unless you buy pre-soaked stockfish, which is now easy to find in most well-stocked supermarkets, you will have to start preparing it 3 days in advance .

First, soak the stockfish in cold water for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Make sure the water completely covers the fish. After the first two hours, rinse it well and put it back to soak. Leave it in the refrigerator for a period of time varying from 36 to 48 hours maximum, changing the water every 8 hours. At this point it is ready to be cooked.

Keep in mind that soaked stockfish is equivalent to fresh fish and the same conservation rules apply. It can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days, or in the freezer for a few months. Our advice, however, is to use it at the moment.

Stewed stockfish

The simplest way to cook stockfish is to prepare it stewed with potatoes and olives. The simplicity of these flavors is almost disarming but we can guarantee you that the result will be amazing!

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 500 g of stockfish
• 400 g of peeled tomatoes
• 300 g of potatoes
• 20 black olives
• 1 clove of garlic
• 40 g of extra virgin olive oil
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• parsley to taste

After soaking the stockfish, cut it into pieces of about 2 cm on each side and keep it aside. Brown the garlic clove in oil, add the peeled tomatoes and a pinch of salt and leave for 10 minutes. Add the stockfish and after 5 minutes of cooking also the potatoes cut into pieces of the same size. Let everything go for 25 minutes , flavoring with olives 5 minutes before the end of cooking. Serve hot or room temperature.

Stockfish marinara style

Marinara-style stockfish is a typical Ligurian recipe whose preparation is slightly different from the others. In fact, the soaked stockfish is cooked in water and wine and served with a very tasty sauce that forms during cooking itself.

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 1 kg of stockfish
• 6 anchovies
• 20 g of pine nuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 glass of white wine
• 1/2 glass of water
• pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

In a saucepan, heat the oil with the anchovies and chopped garlic. Season with pepper and when the anchovies have dissolved, add the stockfish, soaked and cut into chunks, and the pine nuts. Leave to flavor for a few minutes then start the actual cooking by adding water and wine alternately until they have evaporated, forming a delicious sauce.

Stockfish accommodated

Another recipe with stockfish that we recommend you try is stockfish arranged Genoese style. This dish is a real riot of Mediterranean flavors thanks to the presence of tomatoes, olives, capers and anchovies.

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 700 g of stockfish
• 4 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 4 desalted anchovies
• 5 tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 50 g of Taggiasca olives
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

Finely chop the onion, garlic and parsley and brown them in oil then add capers and anchovies. In this aromatic base , flavor the stockfish soaked and cut into pieces. Add the tomatoes cut into quarters, the concentrate dissolved in a little water and the pine nuts and cook for 20 minutes. At this point, add the olives and potatoes cut into pieces and cook them, adding a little water if needed. Complete by adding salt and flavoring with fresh chopped parsley.

Stockfish Messina style

Could raisins perhaps be missing from a Sicilian recipe? Absolutely not and this combination, although particular, works really well in Messina-style stockfish . Ultimately, the strong flavor of this fish, combined with that of capers and olives, needs something to be "toned down". Sultanas are perfect for this purpose and we guarantee that it will be impossible to resist the temptation to make the slipper.

Ingredients for 6 people:

• 1 kg of stockfish
• 1 onion
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 100 g of raisins
• 50 g of pine nuts
• 50 g of capers
• 100 g of pitted olives
• salt to taste
• 1 kg of tomato sauce
• 2 glass of water
• 4 potatoes
• pepper to taste
• parsley to taste

Slice the onion and brown it in a pan with the oil. Then add the soaked raisins, pine nuts, capers and olives and after a few minutes also the tomato sauce. Let it flavor for 10 minutes before adding potatoes and stockfish cut into pieces together with the water. Cook the potatoes and about halfway, season with salt and pepper. Once ready, flavor with fresh chopped parsley.

What do you think of our ideas for cooking stockfish? In our opinion, drawing on Italian culinary tradition is the best way to enhance this ingredient which arrived in our beautiful country thanks to the Normans. As often happens, we "appropriated it", if only for the fact that it represented one of the few ways of preserving fish even during long naval crossings.