Esqueixada
A Catalan summer classic in which the fish is neither cooked nor cured in acid — it is simply desalted and served raw. This works because long salting and drying change the texture of the flesh: once desalted, the cod is firm and slightly translucent, quite unlike fresh raw fish. The name comes from the Catalan esqueixar, to tear: the fish is pulled apart along the grain with the fingers, never cut.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Desalting the cod 2160 min
- Tearing the fish 15 min
- Vegetables 15 min
- Marinating 30 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneDesalt the cod for 36 hours
Cover the cod with cold water and keep it in the fridge for 36 hours, changing the water every 8. Changing the water is obligatory: salt passes into the water, and without a change the process stalls at equilibrium.
Ingredients: 400 g salt cod · 3000 ml water
Water changed every eight hours — or desalting stops.Check the salt level
After 36 hours tear off a small piece and taste it. The fish should be lightly salty, like something well seasoned — not bland. If it still stings, add fresh water and give it another 8 hours.
Ingredients: 400 g salt cod · 3000 ml water
Dry and tear the fish by hand
Pat the cod dry, remove skin and bones and tear the flesh along the grain into thin shreds with your fingers. Torn fibres catch the oil; knife-cut slices stay smooth and the dressing slides off them.
Ingredients: 400 g salt cod · 3000 ml water
Torn along the grain — the knife stays in the drawer.Dice the vegetables finely
Cut the tomatoes, both peppers and the onion into half-centimetre dice. Choose firm tomatoes — watery ones dissolve into the salad and dilute the oil, and esqueixada should stay dry rather than saucy.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs red pepper · 1 pcs green pepper · 1 pcs onion · 100 g black olives
Soak the onion in cold water
Cover the diced onion with cold water for 10 minutes and drain. Raw onion in a salad this simple — five ingredients and oil — would dominate the cod, which is meant to be the main flavour.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs red pepper · 1 pcs green pepper · 1 pcs onion · 100 g black olives
Toss with oil and vinegar
Combine the fish with the vegetables, pour over the oil and vinegar, season with pepper and toss gently with your hands. Add no salt — the cod brings enough, and it is easy to oversalt here.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar · ½ tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp parsley
Gently, by hand — and no extra salt.Let it stand half an hour
Leave 30 minutes at room temperature so the oil penetrates the fish. Just before serving add the olives and scatter with parsley. Do not chill — cold oil sets and the salad loses the aroma it is made for.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar · ½ tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp parsley
Before you start
Where to buy bacalao
Salt cod is sold at Spanish, Portuguese and Italian grocers, often in thick pieces from the middle of the fillet. Choose thick, white pieces; thin tails desalt unevenly and fall apart when torn.
The fresh fish version
Fresh cod will not substitute — raw, it lacks that dense, translucent structure. If you cannot find bacalao, cure your own: bury a fillet in salt, keep it 48 hours in the fridge, rinse and desalt for 12 hours. For this version use only fish previously frozen for at least 7 days (−18°C) — a short home cure does not kill parasites, and the fish stays raw.
A day in the fridge
Esqueixada keeps in the fridge until the next day, when the fish is more thoroughly infused with oil, though the vegetables lose their crunch. Take it out half an hour before serving — straight from the fridge the oil is set and the flavours muted.
