Esqueixada Catalana de Bacallà

Esqueixada is Catalan, and its name tells you the work: bacallà salat, salt cod, desalted and torn by hand. Not boiled, not flaked with a knife, not hidden under sauce. Tomato, onion, pepper, black olives, and good oil meet the cod cold, and that plainness is the point. This is not empedrat with beans, and it is not xató with escarole and its sauce. Esqueixada is the raw torn cod salad, tal como se hace allí.

The method that decides it is the desalting and the tearing. Soak the cod cold, changing the water, until a little flake tastes cleanly salty instead of fierce. Then dry it well and pull it apart with your fingers. A knife cuts it flat and mean; your hands follow the flakes, so the pieces stay tender and the olive oil gets around them. Cook the cod and you have made another dish.

If you are far from Catalonia, look for thick salt cod at a Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, or good fish shop. Bacalhau or baccalà will do the job if it is true salt cod. Pre-soaked desalted cod is allowed when it comes from a good counter, but it will be milder and softer, so taste before you add any salt. Fresh cod is not the substitute. It has not been cured, and curing is the backbone here.

Make it when the tomatoes are ripe enough to eat over the sink. The tomato juice and olive oil become the dressing, so poor tomatoes give you a poor salad, no matter how carefully you tear the cod. My Margin note for this one is small: do not over-desalt. A little salt left in the bacallà is what makes the whole bowl wake up.