Bacalao al pil-pil
Salt cod poached in olive oil with garlic and chilli, then swirled until the oil and the cod's gelatine become a thick sauce.
What makes it bacalao al pil-pil
- Salt cod, skin on — the skin makes the sauce.
- Olive oil, garlic, guindilla.
- Emulsified by moving the pan, not by whisking or flour.
Where it comes from
The name is said to be the sound it makes: the cod bubbling gently in the oil, pil-pil. Nothing is added to thicken it — the sauce comes from gelatine in the skin, coaxed out by heat and the cook's wrist.
It's a Bilbao dish, and stories tie it to sieges of the city in the nineteenth century, when salt cod was what there was. Whether or not that's true, it became a test of a Basque cook's patience.
How it varies
- Kokotxas al pil-pil
- Hake or cod throats, which gel even more readily.
- Bacalao a la vizcaína
- The same cod in a sauce of choricero peppers and onion.
