🐟 Baccalà mantecato

Name: Baccalà mantecato
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Italy · Venice
Ingredients: 500 g dried cod (stockfish), soaked for 2–3 days; 1 bay leaf; 200–250 ml mild olive oil; 1 garlic clove, crushed; A handful of parsley, finely chopped; Salt and white pepper

Origin: Italy · Venice

145kcal

per serving · 100 g

145kcal

per 100 g

14 gProtein14 g / 100 g

9 gFat9 g / 100 g

1 gCarbs1 g / 100 g

Baccalà mantecato is a Venetian spread of dried cod (stockfish) that is poached, then beaten vigorously while olive oil is drizzled in, until it turns pale, light and fluffy. Garlic and parsley season it simply. Creamy in texture yet made without any dairy, it is spooned onto slices of grilled polenta and served as a cicchetto, the small bites of Venetian wine bars.

Diets

✓

No pork

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

Keto-friendly1 g carbs per 100 g

✓

High protein14 g protein per 100 g — 39% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: salt cod

Not veganbecause of: salt cod

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Fish

What it is made of

salt codolive oilgarlicparsley

Recipe

8 servings90 min

Ingredients

500 g dried cod (stockfish), soaked for 2–3 days
1 bay leaf
200–250 ml mild olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
A handful of parsley, finely chopped
Salt and white pepper

Method

Soak the dried cod in cold water for 2–3 days, changing the water twice a day.
Put the fish in a pan of cold water with the bay leaf, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 20 minutes. Drain, then remove skin and bones.
While the fish is still warm, beat it with a wooden spoon or a stand mixer with a paddle, adding the oil in a thin stream, as if making an emulsion, until the cod is pale and fluffy.
Beat in the garlic, parsley, a pinch of pepper and salt only if needed.
Serve at room temperature on slices of grilled polenta.

How to make it lighter

The oil is what makes it fluffy: use the lower amount and add a few spoonfuls of the warm poaching water instead.
Serve on cucumber slices or chicory leaves rather than polenta for a lighter bite.
Two small spoonfuls make a cicchetto — more than that adds up quickly.

History

Stockfish has been eaten in Venice since the 15th century; the story often told credits the merchant captain Pietro Querini, shipwrecked in the Lofoten Islands in 1432, with bringing it back. Mantecato comes from the Venetian word for beating or creaming. It remains a standard of Venetian bàcari and of the Christmas Eve table across the Veneto.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →