Bacalaitos

Bacalaitos are salt cod fritters, a traditional Puerto Rican snack that we typically have as an entire meal. Bacalaitos are served at the beach, at ball games, and at festivals all over the island. Bacalaitos are crisp on the outside and dense and chewy in the inside. Many people use baking powder for a lighter fritter; we don't.

1/2 lb bacalao (dried salt cod) +
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 envelope Sazón *
vegetable oil for frying

1. Soak the bacalao for 8 hours, or simmer in boiling water for 15 minute to remove some of the salt.
2. Mix all ingredients to form a batter (about the consistency of pancake batter).
3. Ladle the batter into a medium-hot frying pan with vegetable oil and cook until browned on both sides, turning once only.

+Bacalao is not the same as the Italian bacala, which is stiff as a board and requires a couple of days or more of soaking, with several changes of water. Bacalao is closer to ready-to-cook: it has been presoaked. Neither is it always cod. Cod supplies vary, so sometimes bacalao is pollack (a relative of cod).

*A 100% natural and organic product from Goya which contains mono sodium glutamate, salt, dehydrated garlic, cumin, yellow dye #5, tricalcium phosphate (an anti-caking agent), coriander, annatto (color), red dye #40.