For Cod & Country: The History of This Truly American Fish

"For most tourists, a visit to the British Isles isn’t complete without a meal of fried fish and fried potatoes, likely eaten off faux newsprint and — if you do it the traditional way — drizzled with malt vinegar." - Claudia Geib

Ah, fish 'n chips, authentic or not, generally puts a smile on a person's face when eaten.

To fully understand the white-fleshed fish’s culinary possibilities, author and “seafood evangelist” Barton Seaver wants you to look to its past.

In the latest episode of Gastropod, co-hosts Nicola Twilley and Cynthia Graber explore the history of Britain’s national dish — . They also tell the story of cod itself, the white-fleshed and burly ground feeder that was once the fish in fish & chips — as well as one of the triggers for the American Revolution. One of the experts Gastropod gathered to tell this tale is Barton Seaver, a chef, author, and cod fan who not only wrote the cookbook For Cod and Country, but also put the codfish on the front cover of his book American Seafood.

“Cod were so plentiful here as to be the dominant keystone species — really the predominant species — in the entire ocean ecosystem,” Seaver says, describing the North Atlantic before the onset of industrial fishing. Cod’s dominance shaped not just ocean ecosystems, but cuisine, trade, and history — until, in the 1990s, the North Atlantic cod population collapsed. But cod are making a slow recovery today, and Seaver tells Gastropod that he thinks it’s high time this fish moved out of the fryer and into the spotlight. “Cod happens to be this incredibly important fish, both economically and culturally, that is worth talking about and celebrating,” he says. Check out an excerpt from their conversation below.

How did the Atlantic cod fishery get started, and what was it like in those early days?

The Portuguese and the Spanish were here long before any European settlers were here, exploiting the incredible bounty along these shores. Northern Europeans — the Vikings and Norse — were also over here fishing for quite some time.

The early European explorers sent over here, whether to find a new spice route or new land, described these waters as so teeming with fish as to be able to walk upon their backs. Which is a little bit over the top. You know, those were entrepreneurs, and they wanted to get more funding for more voyages. But the truth of the matter is actually kind of close to what their hyperbole was saying. Cod were so plentiful here as to be really the dominant keystone species — really the predominant species — in the entire ocean ecosystem at that time.

It was so prevalent in the waters that Cape St. James was renamed to be Cape Cod in 1602. And so that legacy endures.

What made cod such a valuable catch for the early fishing industry?

What made cod so particularly unique and important was the fact that it cured so well, because its fat is almost all stored in its liver. About 98 percent of its fat content is there. The flesh only has 2 to 3 percent fat content on average, and fat makes things go bad faster through rancidity.

So that low fat content, high moisture content, and high protein content meant you could salt it or just sun dry it, even wind dry it, and turn it into a tradable, lasting, durable commodity.

We’re talking 400 or 500 years before refrigeration here, and so that really mattered. That’s what really created an economy out of cod rather than just a sort of subsistence fishery that would catch very locally and sell very locally, if selling at all. It really turned it into this global commodity — really, our first global food commodity.

How did cod eventually come to shape American history?

Cod was really one of the very first stepping stones which the colonies took towards economic and political freedoms, because it began to build wealth. The fishery and that economy was so big, it forced the British to allow American colonists to bypass British merchants in order to sell directly into Mediterranean, Basque, and Spanish markets. All of a sudden the British were not really in control, and didn’t have their foot on the growth of that industry.

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What’s your favorite way to prepare cod? Would you go for fish and chips?

No! I think deep frying anything, except for a chicken wing, maybe, diminishes the overall charm and charisma of what could be captured through a more delicate culinary approach.

Cod to me is at its apex when poached. My favorite way to do it is to poach it very, very gently in a slightly acidic broth with lots of fresh herbs in there. Even some hard herbs like rosemary, thyme, coriander seeds, maybe even a couple of cloves thrown in there for that warming rich, inviting spice that we love. A glug of white wine to add that acidity. Some bay leaves. Poach it very low, slow, gentle in that. Then, once it’s about done, turn the heat off and let it cool down in that liquid overnight.

The next day, take the cod out, flake it beautifully, and just gently rewarm it in just a few tablespoons of that cooking broth that you’ve reduced down. You’ve added a pat of butter to it and some chopped fresh parsley. Mmmm. Yep.


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You can read, or listen to, the interview at this link:
www.eater.com/2023/5/12/23720161/cod-gastropod-fish-and-chips-seafood-history-barton-seaver