Interesting Facts: Stockfish

by Emil I Mondoa, MD

Stockfish is an imported delicacy that features in the diets of West Africans, Caribbean people and Italians. Stockfish was expensive 200 years ago, and it is even more expensive today. Having eaten stockfish all my life, I was surprised about how little I knew about where it came from, why it is as hard as plank, never rots but could stink up a whole neighborhood and does something to plain vegetable sauces and other soups that nothing else does. My only quarrel with stockfish is that it is unsociable because of its smell. The following is a fine article from Wikipedia:

Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by sun and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore called flakes, or in special drying houses. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates, the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.
Cod is the most common fish used in stockfish production, while other whitefish, such as pollock, haddock, ling andtusk, are used to a lesser degree. Over the centuries, several variants of stockfish have evolved, notably salt cod (q.v.).Salting was not economically feasible before the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe.

Etymology
The word stockfish is a loan word from Dutch stokvis 'stick fish', possibly referring to the wooden racks on which stockfish are traditionally dried.^[1]
Importance
Beside oil, gas, and income from the merchant fleet, stockfish is Norway's longest sustained export commodity, and the socioeconomically most profitable export over the centuries. Historically, stockfish was important to the export economies of British North America (especially the fishing ports ofNewfoundland, New England, Nova Scotia). Preserved cod fed Iceland for centuries, to the extent of it being described as a local equivalent of bread.^[2]
Stockfish is extremely popular and is widely consumed in Catholic Mediterrenean countries, notably Portugal, Spain, and Italy. (Stockfish is called stoccafisso in most Italian dialects, but confusingly baccalà -- which normally refers to salt cod -- in theVeneto). It remains part of the national cuisines of the Caribbean, having arrived there with the so-called Triangular Trade -- manufactured goods from Europe, slaves from West Africa, sugar from the Caribbean plantations. It still forms part of nationally significant dishes in all three regions.
Manufacturing and usage
The science of producing good stockfish is in many ways comparable to that of making a good cognac, parma ham, or a well matured cheese. The slow food movement insists that all these artisanal products must be made on a small scale and given time to mature.
The fish is prepared immediately after capture. After gutting the fish, it is either dried whole, or split along the spine leaving the tail connected. The fish is hung on the flakes from February to May. Stable cool weather protects the fish from insects and prevents bacterial growth. A temperature just above zero degrees celsius, with little rain, is ideal. Too much frost will spoil the fish, as ice destroys the fibers in the fish. The climate in northern Norway is excellent for stockfish production. Due to the stable conditions, the stockfish produced in Lofoten is regarded as the best. The traditional cod harvest in Lofoten also takes place during the best drying time. Due to a milder and more humid climate, salted/dried whitefish (klippfisk) was more common in the fisheries districts of Western Norway.
After its three months hanging on the flakes, the fish is then matured for another two to three months indoors in a dry and airy environment. During the drying, about 80% of the water in the fish disappears.^[3] The stockfish retains all the nutrients from the fresh fish, only concentrated: it is therefore rich in proteins, vitamins, iron, and calcium.
After sorting by quality, most of the stockfish is exported to Portugal, Italy and Croatia. In Norway and Iceland, the stockfish is mostly used as a snack and for lutefisk production. In Italy and Portugal, the fish (called stoccafisso) is soaked and used in various courses, and is viewed as a delicacy.
Low-quality stockfish is also commonly used as supplemental food for pets, primarily as dog food or dog treats.
Dishes
The baccalà alla vicentina, an ancient and traditional Italian dish native to Vicenza, is made from stockfish (confusingly not from salt cod, although salt cod is known in standard Italian as baccalà) and is served on or next to polenta.
Stockfish is popular in West Africa, where it is used in the many soups that complement the grain staples fufu and garri. TheBakweri, who are a fishing people of the English-speaking part of Cameroon, use stockfish in flavoring their palm nut or bangasoup, which is eaten with a cocoyam pudding called kwacoco. The name Akporoko for stockfish, among the Annang of Nigeria refers to the sound the hard fish makes in the pot and literaly translates as that which produces sound in the pot.
Both stockfish and salt cod can be made into lutefisk.
Notes

1. ^ Kurlansky, chapter 3; cf. OED s.v. 'stockfish': "the reason for the designation is variously conjectured"
2. ^ Kurlansky, chapter 9
3. ^ Kurlansky, chapter 2

References

• Kurlansky, Mark (1997). Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World. New York: Walker. ISBN 0-8027-1326-2.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockfish"

Benefits and Disadvantages:

Stockfish is concentrated fish protein, preserved in the most ecological manner, using sun and air drying. One could store stockfish for years without refrigeration. It arguably the most effective way or preserving fish. This benefit is offset by the fact that it has to be shipped literally  from the opposite end of the planet, and is expensive. Our traditional drying technique is over a smoking fire. Done properly and promptly, it also preserves fish, but never as effectively as stockfish, which is practically bacteria and maggot proof. Smoked food increases the risk of certain kinds of cancer such as oesophageal cancer. 

That Awful Delicious Smell

Stockfish stinks. There is no escaping that. It has a powerful fishy odor that rapidly permeates a room to dominate any other smell. When it is cooked, that smell permeates everything, including furnishings, clothing and even the breath and sweat of people who consume it. I recall spending an hour in a house in which stockfish was being cooked. I drove home. The following day, I started my car, and a powerful smell of stockfish flowed from the air conditioning system and filled the vehicle. In cultures that value stockfish, it is not a problem, but it is a cause of conflict in America, where people are not used to it. If someone starts cooking stockfish in an apartment complex, the smell soon fills the corridor and enters the rooms of other tenants. I have bad news for my fellow Africans in America. When their American neighbours move, it is not necessarily because of racism, but often because of the strong smell of cooking. 

So, how do you get rid of the smell? Air fresheners do not work. Lavender-fish musk is not much of an improvement. In my experience, high tech ionic air purifiers do the best job of dispelling this or any other odor for that matter.  

  

Comments

[bonor]

I want some bitter leaf sauce with egusi and large flakes of stockfish right about now. Plantee on the side.

[Rosemary Ekosso]

Me too, massa. When I am alone at home, I cook some stock fish with mbanga soup. In the absence of kwacoko or decent cokoyams, I can tell you sleeping mbanga soup is the best thing to eat with rice.