Why do we cure cod? This may be on your mind, well mainly for two reasons, to preserve the cod for a long period of time and second to add flavour. The salted and dried cod is a typical food from the Mediterranean cuisine, and believe it or not, the cod may have the same origin, but taste different due to the way cod is cured prior to being cooked.
So how do we cure cod? We start off buy splitting the cod, we give it a butterfly look, this makes it easier and guarantees a quality cure for the whole fish. The cod will have to be well cleaned from any gut residue or others before salting it, during the salting process if the cod is not perfectly clean, yellow and orange markings may appear. A good thing about salting fish is that when well salted your fish will be protected against most bacteria.
After having cleaned thoroughly your cod, you will then need to place it splitted in a salt based recipient, with the back side facing up. Make sure, that between every fish you have no direct contact, salt must be abundant, or your whole effort may be in jeopardy.
The next stage is a very important one, put the recipient in a fridge for a few days. The whole industry secrets are relevant at this point, being the time and the way it's done in the fridge the main distinction in this whole process. A proper cure can take up to 60 days, some say that cod is like old port wine, the more time in staging the better.
After a sufficient time in staging, the drying is essential, do not use heat to accelerate drying, it requires a like breeze and time. From this point on, you'll need to keep checking to see how humid it is, one easy way is to press the flesh, when it hardens it is salted and dried. So, by now you have all the information you may need on how to cure cod. Doing it at home or industrially, sea salt and cod are the main elements. Good luck.
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