Receita Bacalhau - Bacalhau Grelhado com batatas a murro

Receita bacalhau is the portuguese words for bacalhau or salted cod recipe. Today we will focus on the receita bacalhau, bacalhau grelhado com batatas a murro. A really fine and easy dish to do, not many ingredientes and can quickly be made without much difficulty.

The main ingredientes required are: cod loins or lombos de bacalhau 4, 20 small potatoes and salt (rock grain salt).
The cod loins, in this receita de bacalhau should be from gadus morhua fish, well desalted made from traditional dried and salted bacalhau. The size should be 10/12 at least, that is a 2,0 kg dry fish. You can choose a good Icelandic non injected dried fish or a Norwegian made from fresh fish, both are excellent choices.
The sauce, made of olive oil and onions:

• half a litre of good prime olive oil (always remember the quality of the ingredients used is important in the outcome of your delicious meal
• Garlic 50 grams of chopped garlic
• 3 big onions sliced in half moon formats
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 dried chili bean
• salt to liking

Now we have all the ingredients required, we can start our delicious lunch or dinner, by lighting up the grill, get it nice and hot .... dip the bacalhau loins for this receita de bacalhau in water, then grill the bacalhau cod loins, first with skin facing the hot grill. It will be dripping water which is normal, you may also brush some olive oil on the grill, if you see necessary. After with one movement flip over the bacalhau cod loin on the other side. Avoid moving too much the bacalhau cod loins, the may just fall apart, get a good utensile to flip and move it, this way you can avoid its fragmentation. After grilling the bacalhau cod loins make sure to place them in place to keep them warm.
Next or meanwhile we need to get the potatoes in to the oven, after washing the small potatoes, make some small holes on them with a fork, put some salt over them and some aluminium foil to cover the tray, put it into the pre-heated oven (200 ºC) for approximately 1 hour, or until they become soft. Before serving wrap your hand on a kitchen towel and give each potato a soft punch, this will help the sauce penetrate the interior of the potato and get some flavour in there.
Now the sauce for this delicious dish, put the olive oil in a pot, the chopped garlic in, fry the garlic til it gets a bit golden, then add the onions, the bay leaves and the chili, it should not take more than 10 minutes.
Final stage, put the 4 bacalhau cod loins in the middle of the serving tray, on the side the baked potatoes, and put the sauce over the bacalhau cod loins and potatoes.
Serve it immediately.

Bacalhau 2013 Business Overview

Bacalhau is one of the leading fish consumed in Portugal, til now world leader in this type of fish, possibly soon to be overtaken by the Brazilian market which has been gradually growing year after year.

The European crisis and the effect on this products market performance.
It no news to all, that quotas have increased about 25% in 2013. Also Portugal, the biggest consumer of this type of fish is going through a tough crisis due to a credit crunch.
The increase in quota had an immediate effect on the price of the fish at fishermens level, in general a 20-25% reduction. However when compared with market prices we have bigger reductions in price to the consumer.
The bacalhau has been for the last two years a product which big supermarket chains have been using to promote their stores, with incredible price discounts for limit periods. This effect has reduced the credibility of the product and the industry, as quality in most cases has been put aside in these special promotions.
The industry in Portugal is near a cliff, in the last year or so, many companies have declared bankruptcy, and many are just a step away. And we are talking about companies that used heavy TV campaigns about a decade ago. Much has changed in the bacalhau industry, from a profitable enterprise to a nomads land where millions are transacted and pennies made. However it is expected that the present credit crunch will affect the bacalhau industry forever, hopefully returning some nobility to it.
While Norwegian producers are well organized and established in the market, promoting bacalhau as something that has been theirs for decades. Portuguese companies have little or no organizational skills to compete against facts.
While the Portuguese association is wasting time with phosphate ruling, the market is falling over a cliff. The regulations are not enough to rule the product, while much effort and energy is used on the phosphate rulling, other issues are left untouched.
The bacalhau industry is a bit more complex than it looks, the portuguese industry is looked at in general by foreign partners as a credit savvy one, surviving on constant claims and discussions regarding pricing weights and other non-productive things. And on the other side foreign partner who know that credits will be issued independently of how good or bad they do their job,  .... I guess not much to add.
So, everyone is just trying to survive, adding the fact that prices at one of the lowest levels ever, more and more ingenious things are being done to survive.
Bacalhau salted and dried has increased consumption in this crisis, as it is slowly becoming a very affordable way for families to get the needed proteins in their meals. But it has become a no rules game, everyone has a lower price, quality has been put on hold....
Interesting to see how the stones will fall in a few months when consumption will hopefully increase. And some of the quotas will not be captured due to price and capacity.

Stockfish

 Stockfish is a preserved fish, while salting is one way to preserve fish, stockfish is a dried fish. Norway is historically known for it's stockfish, in Northern Norway, wooden outdoor racks exposed to wind and sun is part of the scenery.
During the curing of the fish about eighty per cent of the moisture is removed from the fish, being that all nutrients are retained in the stockfish, making it a very healthy food.
Stockfish as you may easily inquire can be made from almost all species of fish, although the most common are cod, and other white fish like pollack, ling, haddock and tusk. 
After being captured the fish is immediately prepared to stockfish. The fish can be dried whole or split, the fish can be dried outdoors or done in artificial dryers. The split fish is normally cut along the spine with tail. Drying outdoor is seasonal, it is done from February til May.

Why is stockfish and Norway so attached, well to start with Norway has one of the worlds best fishing fleets. Plus they have the fish close to shore. Then they also have weather that guarantees the whole drying procedure outdoors. The cold temperature is something quite common between February and May in Northern Norway, therefore it protects the fish that is hanging in the wind and sun from bacteria and insects. The temperature slightly above zero is great, as too cold will destroy the quality of the fish, the Lofoten area is known to be the best place for stockfish production outdoors as it has very stable climate conditions which are appropriate for stockfish drying. Also fishing season also coincides with the best drying conditions.
The drying of the stockfish is not all done outdoors, after hanging on the racks for about 3 months it is then is moved indoors to a dry and aired area, here it will mature for another 2 months.
The stockfish is sorted by specie, quality and size. In Norway stockfish is usually consumed as a snack and to do the Scandinavian
The consumption of stockfish is world-wide African countries buy as it's a well preserved seafood and easier to handle. Italy and Croatia are also good markets for such fish. In Norway you will have some consumption namely to do lutefisk a Nortic dish. In Italy it goes by stoccafisso.

Due to being a healthy food with very nutritious ingredients stockfish is also used in pet food, obviously using defect products or lower quality outputs from processing plants.
As mentioned, stockfish is a historical product, it has been one of the most traded product by Norwegian businessmen since 1400.