Hand-shredded Gardell salt cod with Figueres onion, hanging tomato and black olives. The most Catalan of cold dishes, at Carrer de la Cera, 49.
We make it with shredded Gardell salt cod, Figueres onion, hanging tomato and black olives, dressed with olive oil. We serve it cold.
€16.00
Contains fish. If you have an allergy, please tell our staff.
The name comes from the Catalan verb esqueixar: to tear with your fingers. The cod in an esqueixada is never cut with a knife; it is shredded by hand, and that is what gives it its texture. It is a country dish and a summer one, bringing together the fish that keeps best and the best tomatoes of the year.
Salt cod reached Catalonia from the North Atlantic: from the 17th century, Catalan wine and brandy were traded for salted fish from northern Europe. The first salt cod recipe in Catalan dates from 1835, in La cuynera catalana, and Lent did the rest. Hence a very local trade: market stalls that sell the cod already soaked and ready to use.
The classic recipe, as recorded by the chef Josep Lladonosa, takes cod, tomato, onion, black olives and oil, and is served cold. Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, in La cocina de los mediterráneos, adds pepper and green olives. Add cooked pulses and it becomes another dish: empedrat.
Have it with the coca bread with tomato (€4.20) or go on to the salt cod fritters (€10.50).
Further reading: Cuina catalana, by Borja Sierra and Òscar Gómez (Montagud Editores); Àpats, by Alba Sunyer and Clara Antúnez (Parcir Edicions Selectes i Joviat, 2022); La cuina catalana, by Josep Lladonosa i Giró (Rosa dels Vents, 2022); and La cocina de los mediterráneos, by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (Ediciones B, 2002).
