Allspice Porch · Starters

Salt Cod Fritters with Lime Pepper Sauce

Name: Salt Cod Fritters with Lime Pepper Sauce
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 300 g Boneless salt cod; 2000 ml Water; 160 g All-purpose flour; 1 tsp Baking powder; 1 whole Egg; 3 whole Green onions; 2 clove Garlic; 6 g Fresh thyme; 1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper; 400 ml Neutral oil; 0.5 tsp Salt; 0.25 tsp Black pepper; 2 whole Lime; 0.5 whole Onion; 1 tbsp White vinegar

Salt cod soaked until the brine is gone, simmered, then folded into a thyme batter and fried. A sharp lime and scotch bonnet sauce sits beside the fritters. Start the soak the day before.

50 minutes · Medium · 4 servings

Original house recipe · Not yet kitchen-tested

Ingredients

Boneless salt cod300 g
Water2000 ml
All-purpose flour160 g
Baking powder1 tsp
Egg1 whole
Green onions3 whole
Garlic2 clove
Fresh thyme6 g
Scotch bonnet pepper1 whole
Neutral oil400 ml
Salt0.5 tsp
Black pepper0.25 tsp
Lime2 whole
Onion0.5 whole
White vinegar1 tbsp

Quantities describe recipe usage, not package sizes.

Allergen notes

Fish (salt cod), egg, and wheat (flour).

Method

Desalt the cod

Rinse the salt cod under cold running water, then put it in a bowl and cover it with 1.5 L of the measured water. Refrigerate for 8–12 hours, changing the water three times so the brine keeps moving. Taste a drop of the last soaking water: it should be only lightly salty, not like seawater. Drain the cod and throw that water away. If it is still very salty, cover it with fresh cold water for another hour.

Simmer and flake

Put the soaked cod in a saucepan with the remaining 500 ml of water. Bring it to a bare simmer and cook for 8–10 minutes, until it flakes. Health Canada’s safe internal temperature for fish is 70°C (158°F): check the thickest piece. Drain, cool until you can handle it, then flake it and pick out any skin or bone. Wash the board and your hands.

Mix and fry

Stem and seed the scotch bonnet. Wear gloves, and do not touch your face. Mince it and set half aside for the sauce. Slice the green onions, mince the garlic and strip the thyme leaves. Stir the flour, baking powder, half the salt and the black pepper. Beat in the egg, then fold in the cod, green onions, garlic, thyme and half the pepper. The flaked cod loosens the batter; do not add extra water. Pour the oil into a wide skillet to a depth of about 1 cm and heat it over medium until a crumb of batter sizzles at once. Fry spoonfuls in batches for 2–3 minutes per side, until deep golden. The centre of a fritter must reach 74°C (165°F) because of the egg. Drain on a rack.

Make the lime pepper sauce

Finely dice the onion. Stir it with the juice of the limes, the vinegar, the remaining minced pepper and the remaining salt. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then taste and add more salt only if the fritters need it. Serve the fritters hot with the sauce.

The soak is the recipe. Cod that goes into the batter still briny cannot be fixed with less salt later. Gloves for the scotch bonnet are not optional, and the fritter centre, not the colour, tells you the egg is cooked.

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