Cod Club Ranero

Today Virginia, author of Sweet&Sour, brings us a classic and thoroughly Bilbaine recipe. The Club Ranero cod, along with Bacalao a la Vizcaína and of course bacalao al pil-pil are one of the best-known dishes of Bilbao cuisine.

The bacalao al Club Ranero is nothing more than a pil-pil cod to which a sauté of pepper, onion and tomato with pimiento choricero has been added.

Its origin is placed in the early 20th century on a summer morning in 1910. According to the Marquesa de Parabere in the traditional Sociedad Bilbaína, and according to others at the Txakoli Tablas de Indautxu, also known as seat of the Club Ranero because of its members' fondness for the frog game.

In any case, the creator of the bacalao Club Ranero is clear to both sides: the cook of the Sociedad Bilbaína Alejandro Caveriviere, of French origin, but Bilbaine at heart (you know those from Bilbao are born where they want). And the occasion: some friends around a table.

The story goes that, while some members were playing the frog game and a good pil-pil cod was prepared for lunch, other members arrived. Their cook Alejandro Caveriviere had nothing else prepared, so he had to stretch the dish. And he thought of nothing else than using the ingredients he had to stretch the pil-pil, adding a kind of sauté of peppers, tomatoes and onion, finally bound with the flesh of pimiento choricero.

The result was so liked that apparently at that moment it was named bacalao Club Ranero. Some say it was simply Alejandro Caveriviere's imagination that caused this exquisite recipe.

Ensaladera Fleur de Ligne, Le Creuset Damascus steel knife, Bérard wooden board and Le Creuset low casserole, Shallow Casserole type

Its secret is nothing more than good cod and a good extra virgin olive oil, combined with good technique to bind the gelatin released by the cod. Below I tell you how to make it so it turns out perfect.

Let's get to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

(for 4 people)

• 4 cod loins desalted of about 200gr each
• Extra virgin olive oil (I like it intense, but nowadays a more fruity arbequina is preferred)
• 3 heads of garlic sliced and with the germ removed / liter (approx.)
• 2 chili peppers

For the Club Ranero sauté

• 3 onions
• 2 green peppers
• 3 peeled and de-seeded tomatoes without their cooking water
• 5 pimientos choriceros (their pulp)
• Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

1. We start by desalting the cod if we have not bought it desalted. To do this, we wash the cod pieces well to remove excess salt and put to desalt in cold water in the fridge. It should be between 24-48 hours changing the water every 6 hours. To know if it's just right, neither too salty nor too bland, just keep tasting.
2. Once our cod is ready, we remove the bones using some fish tweezers, dry well and set aside.
3. We prepare the Club Ranero sauté: Put the pimientos choriceros in hot water about 20 minutes to soften. After this time, take them out and remove the pulp. Set aside. (This step will not be necessary if you use pimiento choricero pulp directly).
4. Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds and discard the cooking water. Cut them into small cubes. Dice the onion and the peppers into small cubes.
5. Put a large frying pan with two tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the vegetables over medium-low heat. Add the onion first, then the pepper and finally the tomato, in order of hardness. Once the vegetables are sautéed, add the pimiento choricero pulp and mix well. Set aside.
6. Let's prepare the pil-pil. We aromatize the oil: put a wide, shallow casserole (in my case the Le Creuset casserole, Shallow Casserole type), with the oil we are going to use and confit over medium-low heat, without boiling, the garlic and the chili. They will be ready when they rise to the surface. Remove the garlic and the chili and set aside. Now we have our flavored oil.
7. From here, we can cook the cod and prepare the pil-pil at the same time or cook the cod and then bind the pil-pil.
8. If we bind the pil-pil while cooking the cod, we only have to place the cod loins skin-side up and slowly add this oil, moving the casserole with rotational movements, so that the cod releases its gelatin and it gradually binds. The cod will release a kind of white pearls. Those pearls are the gelatin that will emulsify with the oil and give it a mayonnaise-like texture.
9. Extremely important, THE OIL MUST NOT BE VERY HOT, RATHER ON THE LUKEWARM SIDE, AND IT MUST NEVER BOIL. To keep the oil from boiling during this process, add the oil to the casserole at the right temperature and start binding it over medium heat, and when we see the oil heating up, remove the casserole from the heat and we continue binding off the heat.
10. We repeat the operation of adding and binding oil until we have used all the oil and achieve that yellow cream like mayonnaise.

Plates Green Cosmos by Tokyo Design Studio

1. If we choose to cook the cod first and then bind the pil-pil: Place the very dry cod loins inside our shallow "Le Creuset" casserole, skin-side up. Cover with the flavored oil and let the loins confit without the oil boiling (about 80ºC). They will be cooked when, by pressing the skin with a finger, you can almost pierce it.
2. Be careful that the cod will continue cooking with residual heat. Transfer the loins to a dish so they release their water, oil and gelatin.
3. Then place our casserole with the liquid released by the confit cod and a little infused oil and start binding the pil-pil, either with gentle folding motions or by inserting the mesh of a strainer and moving it in circular motions. Gradually add warm oil over medium heat and keep binding until you get that mayonnaise-like cream. Once ready, set aside.
4. Place the cod loins in the casserole and we bathe the flakes with the pil-pil so that the sauce penetrates between their flakes and they remain very juicy. Leave for a few minutes over medium-low heat so that the center of the loins warms up.
5. For assembling the bacalao Club Ranero: Place a slice of cod on a hot plate, cover with the pil-pil and add a few spoonfuls of the hot sauté previously drained of oil. I prefer to serve it this way and let the diner mix the pil-pil with the sauté.
6. But you can also mix beforehand in a pan part of the pil-pil with the sauté drained of oil and serve with the mixture already combined. However you like it.

A good txakoli and good sourdough bread and enjoy this delicious one-dish bacalao Club Ranero!

Tips

- Always keep the cod loins skin-side up, so the cod doesn't shrink or deform.

- If while binding the pil-pil it breaks, add a few drops of water.

Virginia