Bacalhau: Eating Portuguese Salted Cod in Lisbon, Portugal

Come join as we sit down in a local park in Lisbon, Portugal to taste test various kinds of dried and salted Portuguese cod known locally as Bacalhau.

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Bacalhau: Eating Portuguese Salted Cod in Lisbon, Portugal Travel Video Transcript:

So for today's lunch video we're eating one item alone. We are trying Bacalhau which is dried salted cod and this is a fish that is very popular here in Portugal. Now the cod used to be salted because that is the method of preservation that they used before refrigerators were widely available so that meant fish became really hard and salted. And then once you actually wanted to cook it you had to soak it in water just to remove a bit of the salt and also soften it again. And that is a food tradition that has been passed down. So today we are trying three different items. If you want to have a look here. All prepared with cod - Bacalhau. Oh la la.

We've only got three things to taste here but apparently there is a saying "That you can make Bacalhau 365 days a year using a different recipe or a different technique."

So since I'm being a gentleman over here I'll let you choose the first of the three to try. Well, I'm going to choose Bolinhos de Bacalhau. And we actually have two of those so no problem. We each get one. So this is actually a little cake made with cod fish. It's a savory cake not a sweet cake. Um, it is made with mashed potatoes, fish, parsley and egg. And it is deep-fried. Let me show you the inside. So you can really see the fiber of the fish in there. Yeah, you can. It's been rolled into a little ball so it looks good.

That's a monster bite you took. I'm hungry. That's quite nice. So these little fish cakes can actually be served as an appetizer before a big meal but because we've been kind of overdoing it with the big restaurant meals today we're having something smaller so it is just going to be a little bit of a snack but I think filling enough.

Alright, I'm also quite hungry as well. I went for a really long jog this morning and I had a tiny breakfast so I'm ready for my big bite. Have you ever had a fish cake pasty before? Yeah, I have I'm just trying to remember where it was. I honestly can't remember. And the neat thing about this is that of course you taste the fish but it's not overpowering. It's definitely like a pastry as well too.

So next up we're trying this. This is a Portuguese empanada. And it is quite different from the ones I've had in Argentina which are usually half moon shaped. This is more like a little miniature pie. And apparently it is stuffed once again with cod fish. So I've never had a cod fish empanada before. Let's see. Yeah, that's pretty unique. What does it look like inside? Have a look in there. I think there is more than fish in there to be honest. Perhaps potatoes. So it looks like and tastes like cod fish, potatoes and maybe even a little bit of spinach. It's really nice.

And last but not least. Well something had to be picked last so let's try this one. So this is something that we just saw on the counter and like hey that's cod. Let's try it. Mmmm.

This is my favorite one. You know what this one tastes like? It tastes like cod fish Korean jeon. It's like the Korean pancakes. It is really crispy and really tasty. This is awesome. You're going to like this one. So is that battered fish or is it breaded? Yeah, it is battered. Or is it just fried? It's battered and fried and crispy on the outside.

Alright, so now it is time for a price point for those little snacks made out of Bacalhau. Yeah, we picked up those four tasty little treats for 6 Euros total. And what was wonderful is that we just took them to this nice little park which is a two minute walk from our Air BNB and enjoyed eating them in the shade.

Bacalhau

This is part of our Travel in Portugal series. We're making a series of videos showcasing Portuguese culture, Portuguese arts, Portuguese foods, Portuguese religion, Portuguese cuisine and Portuguese people.

All photos and video taken by Samuel Jeffery (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey Bergner (That Backpacker).

Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network