The New Mølje

I started writing this entry 5 days ago, but due to lack of time I only managed to finish it today...

So far I have discussed two of the three components of mølje. The only thing missing is the fish, and this is the easy bit, although cooking cod requires some care. Fresh cod cooked correctly is has a heavenly moist and flaky texture with a mouth melting feel to it. When overcooked it becomes a bit tough and stringy and sticks between your teeth like wet cotton fluff. Andreas Viestad has come up with a fail-safe method for cooking cod perfectly (in Norwegian), but it can be done even simpler. So, here is my method:

Bring a kettle with salty water to the boil. The water should be very salty, approx. 8-10% salt by weight. That's 4-5 big spoon fulls per liter! Add a splash of white vinegar, as this helps keep the very tender fish together. Remove the kettle from the heat, plop in the fish pieces and wait a minute or two. Using a sharp pairing knife, poke the fish where it is the thickest, or close to the bone in the case of cod slices. When the knife goes through with just a tiny bit of rubbery resistance, the fish is done. This usually takes 3-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove the fish with a spider and serve with boiled potatoes, cod roe and liver paté. And maybe a little melted butter. Butter is always good.

There is a slight variation on how to cook the cod, which has the additional advantage that you are left with a very nice base for a light fish stock. Instead of salting the water and using vinegar, take the fish pieces and cover, yes cover, them in coarse sea salt. There is no too much salt here. Let them sit in the salt for 15-25 min. This will not only salt, but also firm up the fish so it does not necessarily need any vinegar. A little white wine is never wrong though. Rinse off the salt under cold running water, before proceeding exactly as above. When the fish pieces are cooked you are left with a delightful light fish stock, which can be improved on by recooking it with all the bones left on the plates, a bit of onion, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns and whatever else that comes to mind. Too good.