French · Languedoc · appetizer

Brandade de Morue Nîmoise

Brandade de Morue Nîmoise reads salinity 5.9, citrus 5.2 and richness 4.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Languedoc appetizer, about 36 hr 50 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Salinity 5.9 · Citrus 5.2 · Richness 4.8 · Sourness 4.7 · Allium 3.7 · Umami 3.6 · Warm Spice 2.6 · Marine & Briny 2.4 · Funk & Ferment 2.3 · Bitterness 1.9 · Herbaceous 1.7 · Heat 1.6 · Nutty 1.5 · Earthy 1.2 · Fruity 1.1 · Sweetness 0.8 · Floral 0.8

What's in it (13)

Time & effort: about 36 hr 50 min (50 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 162 kcal, 7.8 g protein, 1.5 g fat, 35 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. The first thing to say is what is not in it. Durand's Nîmes brandade, the codified original, contains salt cod, olive oil and milk, and no potato whatsoever. Potato belongs to the Marseille habit and to almost every restaurant version sold today; it makes a pleasant purée, but it is not this dish, which is an emulsion and behaves like one.
  2. Soak the salt cod in a large bowl of cold water in the fridge for 36 hours, changing the water four times. Taste a raw flake at the end: it should read as seasoned, not salty. This is the only chance to get the salt right.
  3. Drain, lay the cod in a pan with the bay, thyme and peppercorns, cover with cold water and bring it slowly to 70°C (160°F) — no bubbles, just a shimmer. Hold it there 8 minutes, off the heat if necessary, then lift the fish out. Boiled cod tightens into hard fibres that will not take up oil, and the emulsion then has nothing to hold on to.
  4. While it is still hot, pull off the skin, take out every bone with your fingers and flake the flesh. Keep it warm — everything from here must stay at about 45 to 50°C, and this is the single most important rule of the dish. Cold cod, cold oil or cold milk and the emulsion will not form.
  5. Warm a mortar with hot water and dry it. Pound the warm cod with the garlic, if you are using it, until it becomes a fibrous white paste, about 5 minutes of steady work.
  6. Now build the emulsion exactly as for a mayonnaise: a spoonful of the warm oil worked in until absorbed, then a spoonful of the warm milk, alternating, never adding the next until the last has disappeared. It takes 15 to 20 minutes. Rush it, or let anything go cold, and the brandade breaks into a greasy slick.
  7. Finished brandade is white, not yellow, and holds a soft ribbon from the spoon — thick enough to mound, loose enough to spread. Season with the nutmeg, white pepper and lemon juice; taste before adding any salt, which it almost never needs.
  8. If it does break, warm a fresh spoonful of flaked cod in a clean mortar and beat the broken mixture into it a little at a time. Fry the baguette slices in olive oil until gold, about 3 minutes, and serve the brandade warm, mounded in a dish with the olives, with the croûtes alongside.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.