The three roads of salted codfish

Here’s the third chapter of the food side of the Roma Food and Wine Festival, which will take place on May 17th-19th 2013. After couscous and chicken, respectively handed to the trios formed by Ferrari-Delcourt-Apreda and Cerea-Scarello-Bowerman, we focus today on salted codfish.

The origin of the salting technique for white codfish belongs, in theory, to a group of Basque fishermen who, according to the legend, while pushing off to the other side of the island of Newfoundland, in Canada, met a very numerous platoon of codfish, caught it and decided that in order to preserve it, they had to salt it in the same way that was used for whale meat. It became the national Portuguese dish and has reached an incredible fame even in our country, even though it is often mistakenly taken for stoccafisso, which is the codfish dried on wood racks which had made the Norwegian Lofoten Islands famous. So even though baccalà all’anconetana or alla Vicentina use in fact stoccafisso and not baccalà, the latter is nevertheless celebrated in infinite versions.

In Rome, we will taste it in the versions created by 3 great chefs, two from Campania and one from Marche: on Sunday 19th, at 19-22, there will be the baccalà from the past with Gennaro Esposito from Torre del Saracino in Seiano in Vico Equense (Naples); on Saturday 18th, at 12-15, it will be the turn of the baccalà of the present with Marianna Vitale of Ristorante Sud in Quarto (Naples) and on Friday 17th, at 19-22, that of the future with Moreno Cedroni, chef at Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigallia (Ancona) and at Il Clandestino in Portonovo (an establishment which will open once again on May 15th, more splendid than ever, with the totally new theme of British sushi).

Who can be better than Gennaro Esposito to interpret the baccalà of the past? «In Rome we will pair it with a chickpea cream», the big chef from Vico telegraphically reveals. This represents for him the latest chapter, the more casual one, of an itinerary that has seen this ingredient on the menu in Seiano, in different and much more complex versions. For instance as a confit in a Risotto with dried figs from Cilento and basil. Or in the form of its tripe with the Zitoni spezzati served with roasted artichokes, a current spurious use in his menu.

And how about the present, represented by Marianna Vitale, from the same region? It means (and will mean, in Rome) a Salted codfish cheesecake, «a dish I feel very close to because it has been on the menu since the start, when we opened in Quarto, four years ago. It was born after a trip to Sicily, when I looked at a cake made with baked ricotta. The salted codfish is cooked in an infusion of olive oil from Campania. It is a happy meeting between sapidity, sweetness and spiciness». But, most of all, «Salted codfish has a very strong anthropological value because the value of all our travels and exchanges as Italians is hidden in salt».

For Cedroni, one of the biggest Italian experts, the salted codfish of the future is, first of all, «that which I salt myself: let’s not forget that it was born in times when fridges did not exist», he explains. It has always been and will always be in the menus in both Senigallia and Portonovo. «What, until now, has given me the greatest satisfaction has been the Baccalà with hare, following the wild sushi theme, on the thin edge between fish and meat». And in Rome? «I will bring Salted codfish with roses, a contrast between the most smelly fish and the most elegantly scented flower, a meeting of aromas...».

For info on the programme and for tickets to the Rome Food&Wine Festival click here.