Spanish · Catalonia · salad

Esqueixada de Bacallà

Name: Esqueixada de Bacallà
Prep time: 19 min
Total time: 37 h 19 min
Cuisine: Spanish · Catalonia
Ingredients: salt cod — 400 g; tomatoes — 250 g; sweet onion — 150 g; sweet green pepper — 120 g; olives — 60 g; extra-virgin olive oil — 74 g; cava vinegar — 20 g; salt — 3 g

Esqueixada de Bacallà reads salinity 6.0, sweetness 4.3 and umami 3.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Spanish · Catalonia salad, about 37 hr 19 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.9 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 5.1 / 10
Sour & Bright — 2.6 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.9 / 10
Rich & Fat — 3.6 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 2.4 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Salinity 6.0 · Sweetness 4.3 · Umami 3.5 · Richness 3.3 · Funk & Ferment 2.8 · Fruity 2.7 · Marine & Briny 2.5 · Sourness 2.3 · Herbaceous 2.2 · Allium 2.1 · Bitterness 1.7 · Earthy 1.4 · Nutty 1.0 · Floral 0.7 · Citrus 0.7

What's in it (8)

salt cod — 400 g
tomatoes — 250 g
sweet onion — 150 g
sweet green pepper — 120 g
olives — 60 g
extra-virgin olive oil — 74 g
cava vinegar — 20 g
salt — 3 g

Time & effort: about 37 hr 19 min (19 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 11.8 kcal, 0.4 g protein, 0.1 g fat, 2.5 g carbs

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

How it's cooked (7 steps)

Esqueixar means to tear, and that verb is the recipe. The cod is never cooked — it is desalted until it is edible raw, then pulled apart with your fingers along the grain into ragged shreds. Cut it with a knife and you get neat cubes with none of the surface that holds the dressing.
Soak the cod in cold water in the refrigerator for 36 hours, changing the water four times. It should taste seasoned, not salty, and the flesh should be plump and white. Pat it dry and pull out any bones.
Tear the cod into shreds roughly the size of a little finger, working along the grain. You should have loose, feathery pieces, not chunks.
Dice the tomato and the green pepper into 1 cm pieces and slice the onion as thinly as you can — use a mandoline if you have one. Some cooks rinse the onion under cold water for a minute to take the bite out; in July with a good sweet onion you do not need to.
Toss everything with the oil and vinegar for a minute, using your hands so you do not break the cod up further. Cover and chill for 1 hour so the cod takes up the dressing and the tomato gives out a little juice.
Taste and add the flaky salt only at the table — the cod carries salt of its own and how much it kept depends on your soaking. Scatter the olives over and serve cold, with bread.
Substitutions: sherry vinegar can stand in for the cava vinegar.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Horiatiki (Greek Village Salad) — Greek
Greek Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce (Gigantes Plaki) — Greek
Crostini Neri di Fegatini — Italian · Tuscany
Mediterranean Couscous — Mediterranean
Hallaca Caraqueña — Venezuelan

Keep reading: what salinity, sweetness, umami mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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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.