You fold eggs off the heat into matchstick potatoes and shredded salt cod, and you stop while they are still creamy — a Portuguese carbonara of the Atlantic, black olives for salt and darkness. Serve it at once. It will not hold, and a wait turns cream into rubber.
Lisbon claims this as its favourite bacalhau: leftover fish, fried potatoes, onion, egg. Portugal has a thousand recipes for salt cod; this is the one that leaves the kitchen first.
Fry the potatoes crisp. Soften the onions slowly. Fold the eggs off the flame so they stay glossy; residual heat is enough. If you leave the pan on the fire, you will have a sad cook.
Method
- 01
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and fry the matchstick potatoes until they are gold and crisp, stirring so they color evenly. Lift them out to drain, leaving some of the oil in the pan. In that same oil, cook the sliced onions slowly until they are sweet and pale gold — don't rush them. Soft onions are the difference between a scramble and a dish.
- 02
Add the shredded salt cod to the onions and warm it through, tossing so every strand meets the oil. You should smell the Atlantic — salt, fish, onion. Return the fried potatoes to the pan and fold them in gently; you want them to stay crisp a little longer. Keep the heat moderate now; nothing should brown.
- 03
Take the pan off the heat, pour in the beaten eggs, and fold until they are barely set and still creamy — like a Portuguese carbonara of the sea. If you leave the pan on the flame, you will have dry eggs and a sad cook; the residual heat is enough. Stop when a trail of egg still looks wet.
- 04
Scatter over the chopped parsley and the black olives — they are there for salt and darkness, not as a garnish you can skip. Grind on a little pepper. Carry the pan to the table at once; Bacalhau à Brás will not hold, and a wait turns cream into rubber. Eat it while the eggs are still glossy.
