Bacalhau à Brás
Salt cod, straw potatoes and eggs, stirred together into Lisbon's favourite supper.
Bacalhau à Brás is Lisbon's salt cod supper: soaked and flaked cod, straw-cut fried potato and beaten egg, stirred together off the heat. The egg is meant to coat everything, not scramble, so the pan comes off the flame earlier than feels right. The cod has to be soaked properly first.
Ingredients
- 300g soaked salt cod, flaked
- 2 onions, sliced
- 200g matchstick potatoes
- 6 eggs
- Black olives, parsley
- Olive oil
Method
- 1
Soften the onions slowly in olive oil for 15 minutes.
- 2
Add the flaked cod and warm through.
- 3
Fry the potato matchsticks until crisp and fold them in.
- 4
Pour in beaten eggs and stir over low heat until barely set — never dry.
- 5
Finish with parsley and olives.
Salt cod tails and scraps cost a fraction of loin and disappear into this dish.
The Portuguese comfort trio
- Caldo Verde — The soup that opens the same meal.
- Feijoada à Transmontana — The bean stew for a colder day.
Tasca Days
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Fourteen Portuguese recipes, and the language, law and labels of the Portuguese table.
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- A regional compass that says plainly which dishes have documented origins and which do not
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