Bacalhau à Lagareiro

Bacalhau à lagareiro is what happens when salt cod meets garlic and a generous — really generous — pour of olive oil. It is one of the most beloved ways to cook cod in Portugal, and an absolute showstopper for Sunday lunch.

Nobody knows exactly where the dish was born. Many credit the olive-press workers of the Beiras, who roasted cod in the mill ovens at the end of October while the new oil was being made — the lagareiro of the name is precisely the olive-press worker. The great Portuguese food writer Maria de Lourdes Modesto placed its origin in Minho instead, a curious choice for a region too damp for olive oil — but who are we to argue with the greatest authority on traditional Portuguese cooking?

Wherever it came from, the formula is settled: cod, garlic, olive oil, and batatas a murro — “punched” potatoes that soak up all that garlicky oil. Learn how to make it the old-fashioned way and surprise your family at the next Sunday lunch. Enjoy!

Bacalhau à Lagareiro Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes · Cook time: 45 minutes · Total: 55 minutes · Servings: 4 · Calories: ~376 per serving

Ingredients

• 2 pounds salted cod, desalted and cut into thick pieces
• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 pounds small potatoes, unpeeled
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 onion, sliced
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Coarse sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Boil the unpeeled potatoes for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, arrange the cod pieces skin-side up in a baking dish.
4. Scatter the minced garlic over the cod and drizzle with the olive oil.
5. Drain the potatoes and arrange them around the cod (use a second dish if you run out of room).
6. Sprinkle the potatoes with a little coarse salt — go easy, the cod is already salty.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, opening the oven now and then to baste the cod with the garlicky oil.
8. Lay the onion slices over the cod, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and bake for another 15 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and gently smash each potato with the back of a spoon or a (careful) fist — these are the famous batatas a murro.
10. Sprinkle everything with chopped parsley and serve.

Recipe Notes

• Use about 1 cup of olive oil for every 2 pounds of cod — this is not the dish to be shy with it.
• Norwegian salt cod is the classic choice.
• Some cooks add thin slices of raw garlic just before serving for an extra kick.
• A splash of vinegar over the cod straight out of the oven is a regional touch worth trying.
• Pepper and paprika can be added, but purists (myself included) say they distort the original.
• Boiled or sautéed turnip greens (grelos) are the traditional side dish.