Brazilians love their cod. It’s not the kind of cod you might be thinking of. Instead, it’s the kind “from the old country” (in the case of Brazil, that means Portugal). Bacalhao is dried and salted because that’s how they used to keep it from going bad before refrigeration. My mother-in-law plans meals around bacalhao months in advance. It’s that special.
Bacalhao is usually eaten on holidays and other special occasions. The last time I was in Brazil, our family planned a big family dinner for my son’s birthday party. First, we paid a visit to the huge indoor Municipal Market in São Paulo.
My mother-in-law was on a mission to get the best quality main ingredients: the dried cod and beautiful olives.
Before the cod is cooked, it is soaked in several changes of water at least overnight to remove the salt.
Much of what Brazilians eat seems to be straight out of Southern Europe. The olives are no exception.
Back at my in-laws’ house, my husband’s mother, sister, and brother-in-law spent most of the morning cooking. We had several platters of food. The bacalhao dish consists of pieces of cod cooked with lots of onion, potatoes, tomatoes, red peppers, olives, parsley, olive oil, and tomato sauce. Because no recipe is followed, it never looks or tastes exactly the same.
And my brother-in-law made these fried delights: cod, mashed potatoes, and herbs, all rolled together and fried in olive oil:
Brazilian food varies a lot depending on the region. If you spend time with Brazilians in São Paulo or other parts of southern Brazil, you are sure to come across bacalhao. You may even find yourself sneaking pieces of it back in your suitcase! Or not 
This post of part of Expat in Germany’s Food Friday series –click to see more posts about food.
I’m a huge fan of baccala and would love to try cooking it the Brasilian way.
Mmm! The fried bacalhao is sooo good!!
I ate quite a bit of cod when I was in Portugal. It’s surprising how many different ways you can cook it.
I saw a lot of baccala on a brief trip to Macau last year – must be the Portuguese roots
Never been tempted by it until I saw your fried little delights though. They look yummy!
I’m not much of a fish eater but this looks delicious and interesting that the food is so similar to European food.
Bacalhau
Even Jamie Oliver has a recipe now for the bolinhos de bacalhau (which he spells all wrong in his book) http://www.jamieoliver.com/bloggers/viewtopic.php?id=31224 I love the bolinhos but I’m not a big fan of bacalhau in general. Cool Municipal Market in Sao Paulo, I haven’t been there.
Interesting that you’re not a big fan of bacalhau–my husband and his family are just crazy about it. Honestly it’s not my favorite dish either. The salt is too dry and salty for my taste, but I do like Brazilian food in general.