Juan: La parte Dos
Bacalaito (with extra sofrito)
Juan tells me that Bacalaito is a local street food that you can get just about anywhere on the island of Puerto Rico. It’s so common, he says, that you just follow the smell of frying fish wafting up from any direction in a bustling town and you’ll be able to get your hands on this codfish fritter.
Armed with his mother’s recipe and a mysterious orange packet of herbs
and spices that Juan swears merely adds the necessary orange/gold color
Mystery spices from Puerto Rico
to the batter, Juan walked me through the steps involved in Bacalaito production.
Normally, to make this flattish finger food, you would use salted cod, soaking it in water to both rehydrate the fish and rinse away some of the salt in which it had been cured. We only had fresh cod on hand in kitchen class. So Juan poached the fresh fish in salted water while he mixed a batter that started with flour and water, included the secret flavor packet, and ended with the addition of the cooked cod and a seriously elevated sofrito comprising coriander (cilantro), garlic, onions and red harbanero pepper.
Chef's discuss Juan's technique and his mother's recipe
Then it was a matter of getting the oil in the cast iron skillet hot enough to fry them.
Just before service, Juan was putting the extra sofrito away in the refrigerator for use another day when I and another student almost simultaneously said “Hey, where you going with the sauce?”
“You want this? To pour over those? Crazy,” said Juan. We insisted.
The extra sofrito on top meant I had to eat mine with a fork. The taste of the cod in the fritters was mild and was gently wrapped in a tender-textured, almost pancake-like crumb that gave off a little heat in the back of my mouth. Everything was enveloped with a crunchy exterior.
Juan ate his plain, using his fingers, just as his mother’s recipe intended.
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