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Baccalà alla siciliana – Sicilian-style salt cod
Baccalà alla siciliana
Salt cod cooked with tomato, olives and capers.
Contains
Together with capitone (eel), baccalà is the Christmas Eve fish in Naples.
The story of Baccalà alla siciliana – Sicilian-style salt cod
Baccalà alla siciliana is salt cod stewed with tomato, olives and capers, a dish found all over the South.
Baccalà is salted, preserved cod that reached the Mediterranean through trade with the North. According to some accounts, it spread in Naples in the sixteenth century as a poor man’s food, and grew with the meatless days imposed by the Church. In 1884 Matilde Serao counts the smell of “baccalà in molle”, soaking, among those that fill the Pignasecca market.
On Christmas Eve, a meatless day, baccalà is one of the typical main courses of the Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner, especially fried, alongside capitone, eel. On the night of 23 to 24 December, Neapolitans crowd the fish markets to buy it.
Why do Neapolitans eat baccalà on Christmas Eve?
Christmas Eve is a meatless day: baccalà, cheap and easy to keep, became one of the typical main courses of the Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner, alongside capitone.
How long have people eaten baccalà in Naples?
According to some accounts, since the sixteenth century. In 1884 Matilde Serao already describes it being sold soaking at the Pignasecca.