Recipe: Brandade of Cod in the Nîmes Style

The day before

1 Scrape the cod a little to remove the salt (with a brush)

2 Rinse it well under running water and on your cutting board cut it into strips of approximately 10 cm by 5 cm wide.

3 Then soak them in a large volume of cold water for 12 hours. During desalting try to change the water at least 3 to 4 times, the last time add a glass of milk to it.
The next day

4 In a fairly high sauté pan, place your pieces of cod. add 3 bay leaves, some thyme flowers and fennel seeds, then pour water to cover and poach for 10 minutes at very gentle simmer (no boiling) skimming regularly to remove impurities. no salt, we will adjust the seasoning of the brandade at the end.

5 When your pieces are cooked, remove them with a skimmer onto a plate (strain) and keep it at room temperature.

6 Then, carefully, taste a little of the flesh (for the salt level) remove the bones and skin then remove the flesh like leaves (leafing)
Place it in a large salad bowl or mortar and blend it or pound it (be sure to keep it always lukewarm) in order to obtain a purée.

7 In 2 different saucepans warm your milk with a little nutmeg on one hand and your olive oil on the other.