Bacalhau à Gomes de SáPorto Salt Cod Bake with Potatoes and Eggs

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá is a baked dish of flaked salt cod, sliced potatoes and soft onions bathed in olive oil, topped with hard-boiled eggs, black olives and parsley. It comes from Porto, where a cod merchant called José Luís Gomes de Sá is credited with creating it in the late 1800s, and it's now on restaurant menus all over Portugal.

Two things make it work. The cod is flaked and left to soak in hot milk for an hour, which makes it soft and mild. And the olive oil is generous: this is not a dish to make light.

The recipe

Bacalhau à Gomes de SáPorto Salt Cod Bake with Potatoes and Eggs

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, Porto's classic salt cod bake: milk-soaked flakes, soft onions, sliced potatoes and olive oil, finished with eggs and olives.

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Prep75 min

Cook30 min

Total105 min

Serves4

Ingredients

MetricUS

Serves

4

½×1×2×3×

• 600 g thick salt cod loin, soaked (see note)
• 500 ml whole milk
• 800 g waxy potatoes, unpeeled
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced into half-moons
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 150 ml olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 eggs
• 16 black olives
• 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Black pepper

Method

1. Put the soaked cod in a pan, cover with boiling water, put the lid on and leave for 15 minutes off the heat. Drain, then remove the skin and bones and break the cod into large flakes.
2. Bring the milk almost to the boil, pour it over the flakes and leave to soak for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in their skins for 20–25 minutes, until just tender. Peel while warm and cut into slices about 1 cm thick. Hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool in cold water and peel.
4. Heat the oven to 200 °C. Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat and cook the onions with the bay leaf for 12–15 minutes, until soft and pale gold but not brown. Add the garlic for the last 2 minutes.
5. Lift the cod out of the milk and drain it. Discard the milk.
6. In an oven dish, layer half the potatoes, half the cod and half the onions with their oil. Repeat. Grind over black pepper and add another drizzle of olive oil.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, until bubbling and lightly golden at the edges.
8. Top with sliced eggs, olives and plenty of parsley, and serve hot.

Notes

Clear ticks

Tap ingredients and steps to tick them off. Scaling changes the quantities at the start of each line; check the rest by eye.

Soaking the cod

Thick loins need 36–48 hours in cold water in the fridge, with the water changed 3–4 times. Our guide to soaking bacalhau covers times for every cut, and buying bacalhau explains which grades are worth the money. Ready-soaked frozen cod (bacalhau demolhado) works well here and skips the wait.

Mixed or layered?

Older Porto versions toss everything together in the dish before baking. Restaurants often layer it so the potato slices stay whole. Both are correct. Some cooks also flake the cod much finer, almost shredded, which is closer to the original description. If you like this, try bacalhau com natas, the creamy baked cousin, or bacalhau à Brás for a quick weeknight version.

What to serve with it

It's a full meal on its own. A green salad with vinegar cuts through the oil, and a glass of Vinho Verde is the obvious match from the same part of the country.

From the shop

What you’ll need

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Portuguese

Costa Nova oval baker, 30 cm

An oven-to-table baking dish, the right size for bacalhau com natas or arroz de pato for four to six.

Tip: Oven-, microwave- and dishwasher-safe stoneware.

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Farberware 6-quart stainless stockpot

A best-selling stockpot for caldo verde, octopus and cooking bacalhau.

Tip: Works on all hobs, including induction.

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Authentic Portuguese Cooking (cookbook)

Over 185 classic recipes from mainland Portugal, the Azores and Madeira. A highly rated home-cooking reference.

Tip: Good for family recipes you remember but never wrote down.

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Bordallo Pinheiro cabbage dinner plates, set of 2

The famous green cabbage-leaf plates, handmade in Caldas da Rainha. They turn a weeknight bacalhau into a feast.

Tip: Handwash to keep the glaze bright for decades.

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