Brandade de Morue
Luxuriously creamy Provençal dip of desalted cod whipped with olive oil and garlic until silky — France's most celebrated fish preparation, served warm with croutons in the bistros of Nîmes and throughout southern France.
- 1 lbsalt cod(soaked 24-48 hours, water changed 3-4 times)
- 3/4 cupolive oil(warmed)
- 4 clovesgarlic(minced)
- 1/4 cupheavy cream(warmed, optional)
- 1 tspfresh thyme(minced)
- 1 tbsplemon juice
- 1/4 tspwhite pepper
- 2 tbspfresh parsley(chopped)
- 1 baguettecrusty bread(sliced and toasted)
Keeps refrigerated up to 3 days. Reheat gently with a splash of olive oil.
- 1Place desalted cod in a pot, cover with cold water, bring to a gentle simmer
- 2Poach cod 10-12 minutes until it flakes easily, drain and let cool slightly
- 3Remove any skin and bones, flake fish into a large bowl
- 4Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat cod while gradually adding warm olive oil in a thin stream
- 5Add garlic and continue beating until mixture is fluffy and emulsified
- 6Beat in cream if using, then thyme, lemon juice, and white pepper
- 7Taste - should not need salt due to residual salt in cod
- 8Transfer to gratin dish, broil until golden spots appear
- 9Garnish with parsley, serve warm with toasted baguette
Properly desalting the cod is crucial - soak for 24-48 hours, changing water several times. The final texture should be fluffy, not gluey.
Brandade de morue is a dish of the south, born in the landlocked city of Nîmes in the Languedoc region of France — a city with Roman ruins, famous for its bullfighting arenas, and, improbably for somewhere so far from the sea, home to France's most celebrated salt cod preparation. Its name comes from the Provençal word brandado, meaning "something stirred" or "beaten," a precise description of the technique: salt cod and warm olive oil are vigorously worked together, gradually emulsifying into a smooth, fragrant paste. This method was first introduced to southern French cooking around 1786, when cooks in Nîmes began combining salt cod — which Atlantic fishermen had long preserved under thick layers of salt and traded inland through the nearby salt port of Aigues-Mortes — with the region's finest olive oil and garlic. The dish gained wider recognition through Charles Durand, a chef born in nearby Ales in 1766 who opened his famous restaurant in Nîmes around 1795. Durand codified and championed the brandade nîmoise, publishing his recipe in Le Cuisinier Durand in 1830 as morue à la Branlade, and the dish's reputation spread. Baron Brisse included a recipe in his compiled French cookery writings of 1868. The version with mashed potato — brandade de morue parmentière, named after potato champion Antoine-Augustin Parmentier — became the more common French interpretation, though the traditional Nîmes version is made without potato for a purer, more intense cod-and-oil flavour. In Provence, brandade is a traditional Christmas Eve dish, part of the ceremonial Gros Souper meal. Related preparations appear across the Mediterranean: baccalà mantecato in Venice, brandada de bacalao in Catalonia.