SALTED COD AND OTHER FRAGMENTS

At giyara bajeh das minute ke bad, my apartment mate needed access to the internet on her computer, so I went into the bathroom to ponder life's great mysteries. Like why the stuffed turkey vulture (Sydney Fylbert) always wants to know if I ran into any corpses or cadavers on the way home and why I didn't just make any, good lord don't I realize that he's hungry? Whether the asthmatic street person two blocks away is an idiot, or if he'll actually survive long enough to get to his vaccination appointment two weeks hence. Will the electrician who's van is parked down the block stay in business till after this is over? And why is it so frikkin' cold?!?

Dingin la! Sejuk sekali!

I'm blaming the Republicans for this weather. Winter started when they were still in power.


Other deep questions:

Does Mary in North Carolina really need to stand on a footstool to scowl, or is that just so her husband Kaz can actually see the frowny lines on her forehead?

Why do I think more in scraps of other languages when it's cold?

Is Bergen Norwegen dialect really a work of the devil (as Cathrine Neslein Bugge avers in her groundbreaking essay "Bergens-dialekten Er Djevelens Verk") or is that a Neinorsk/Bokmal prejudice?
Cite:"Vi som fremdeles holder fast ved Gud ma smarest overtaler Bergenserne till å legge av seg sitt sprog av slutte å bekjempe Gud. Her må Kristne Bergensere gå foran i kampen. Gud velsigne dere!"


As someone who is able to read Dutch State Bible language, I am perfectly willing to assume that Bergen dialect ("Bergensk") is indeed the work of the devil. Those people should learn the Netherlandish tongue of the seventeenth century, that way they can converse in a civilized and sanctified language with the Christianized natives of northern Celebes, verkrampte Calvinist preachers in the Transvaal, and my ancestors in New York and New Jersey.
They'll stop taking heads when raiding enemy tribes.
And probably discover herring.

My ancestors in New York and New Jersey were godly people. One of them had twenty eight offspring who lived to adulthood. Probably because there was no television or central heating.


And naturally, one thinks of salt cod.



DRIED CODFISH
Klipvis, stokvis

The Vikings probably learned how to preserve cod for long voyages and sustenance during the bleak part of the year from the natives of Newfoundland a thousand years ago. That knowledge was transmitted to the Basques, Portuguese, and Dutch -- by imitation and osmosis -- which, accidentally, led to Europeans becoming the dominant hairy barbarians in much of the world.
Klipvis is cod salted before drying, stokvis is unsalted. Both types must be soaked in water before use. Those terms are often used for any fish thus preserved.
Dialectically, it is also 'labberdaan'.


One pound of salted cod, with potatoes, onion, and tomatoes, is dinner for four people.

HABERDINE WITH POTATO
[Labberdaan met aerpel]

One LBS Salt Cod.
One LBS potato (4 whites, or 8 reds, more or less).
Two large onions.
Four tomatoes.
A hefty squeeze of lemon juice.
A few cloves garlic.
Pepper, and a pinch of sugar.
Sherry or white wine.
Olive oil.

Soak the cod in several changes of cold water for a day or two. Drain. skin it, break apart coarsely, remove bones.
Dice the onions, chop the potatoes into chunks. Peel and seed the tomatoes, chop coarse. Mince the garlic.
Precook the potato for ten minutes in water, drain. Now gild the onion and the potato chunks with a generous amount of olive oil in a casserole, when the edges are starting to turn, add the fish and garlic. Agitate a little, then add tomatoes, lemon juice, a splash of white wine or sherry, water to cover, and a few turns from the pepper mill. Plus the pinch of sugar. A bay leaf or two would not be amiss. Neither would a handful of chopped parsley. Bring to a boil, turn to low, and let it simmer for half an hour. Take care that it not burn on the bottom.
The finished dish should be slightly soupy.
Remove bay leaves before serving.




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