I keep to purely english. Sorry for the very long post!
Dry cod:
The cod is cleaned as soon after catch as possible. Head removed. Innards removed. The liver is boiled into Codliver oil. The Roe is salted for further food production ( creamed, canned, smoked).
The carcasses are tied together two and two at the tail end, and hung on wooden racks to dry.
Heads strung up on strings, around 5-7 heads per string, and hung up on racks to dry.
Salt cod: different versions.
Version one - headless, innards less cod halved lengthwise, then is placed in barrels, with lots of rock salt between layers. Sold. Left in barrel until taken up, desalted and cooked.
Very unusual product these days.
For home use, some people still do this, with choice loins from large cod, boneless.
In the old days the resulting brine was just topped up with more salt and the new cod placed there. Same brine used for years. ( salt was an expensive import commodity). Today new salt every year.
Version two: salting as above, for a couple of weeks. Then the carcass halves removed, and placed on cliffs to dry.
Before packaging in bundles, immersed and coated in fine salt.
Cod to be dried and destined to be eaten by the own family is usually selected to be of medium size. Cleaned, and filleted. Then the bone free cod sides are then hung up, on a rack under eaves, and protected by chicken wire.
Avoids birds crapping on them, eventual rain slowing down the drying.
The dry cod is not only rehydrated and cooked, but also eaten ‘raw’. You take a dry cod, put it on a wooden block, and with the flat end of a large axe hammer it gently until the dry fish meat flakes and fluffs up. Eat as a snack. Pute protein. Nice, mild fish flavour. Love it!
During WW2 the german soldiers called this Lofoten Kaugummi. Lofoten chewing gum.
There is another cod product, called Boknafisk, that is made. Traditionally it was made at the end of the season when the weather turned a little bit to warm to dry the ‘classic’ way.
The headless, innard less cod is hung up, and semi dried. 2 weeks or so. Due to the higher temperature the flesh starts ‘turning’ a little bit.
Eaten locally, no export. Short life span unless ( today) deep frozen.
Boknafish has a nice taste, very slight ammonia flavour.
Eaten steamed with steamed potatoes, peas.
If people do it for family use, they only use the prime boneless loin from large cod.
To accompany many local cod dishes this is eaten: you take a parasite free liver, and divide it in inch large chunks.
Boil it gently until it releases some oil.
Boil the roe sack in salted water until done. Take up, cut in thick slices.
In the plate, put a slice or two and pour a bit of the warm oil and liver.
Delicious bith with fresh gently boiled cod as with boknafisk.
The dry heads are called ’Africa fish’. Exported to many Afican countries. They boil it.
Being far more difficult to dry, they are usually half rotten in the middle.
Strong flavour that apparently goes very well with the maize porridge (pap).
Much of the Salt /dry cod is today made in industrial setting as this gives a more even, high quality.
The air dried Cod is like fish biltong, but not flavoured. No need!