A Year in Uruguay

Bacalao, or salt cod, is certainly not my wife's favorite food. As a girl, when she smelled it cooking she would feign a stomach-ache and skip dinner. She still doesn't like it and tries to avoid it whenever possible.

Bacalao is certainly very popular in Spain and Portugal and in their former colonies. Author, Mark Kurlansky suggests that the Basque discovered the Americas long before Columbus, but kept it secret to protect their source of bacalao.

In the store it's hard and dry, so it has to be soaked before cooking. Cooked, I find it inoffensive, but I haven't eaten enough of it to develop a real desire to make it.

I've seen it several times in the last few weeks in Montevideo. I'm not sure if it's the season (Lent and Easter) or if I just happened to notice it more. I don't think we'll be cooking it at home.

Labels: food and drink, Uruguay