The original recipe for baccalà alla vicentina: stockfish, onion, anchovies and milk. Two days of soaking and four and a half hours of slow cooking.
Introduction
Baccalà alla vicentina is the dish that made Vicenza famous at the table, and it starts with a misunderstanding worth clearing up straight away: it isn't made with salt cod. It is made with stockfish, the air-dried cod of the Lofoten Islands, which in the Veneto has always been called baccalà. Real salt cod — the kind preserved in salt — is another thing altogether, and it plays no part in this recipe.
This is a cooking of patience, not of technique. The stockfish is beaten and soaked for two or three days, changing the water, then layered with a soffritto of onion and anchovies, covered with oil and milk, and left to pipare — the Vicenza verb for that barely perceptible simmer — for four and a half hours. You never stir: you move the dish, and that is all.
The result is a rich and creamy dish, where the milk binds, the oil emulsifies and the anchovy gives the savoury backbone that holds it all together. It is served with polenta, soft or grilled, and it asks for a wine with acidity and nerve: the richness of the sauce needs cutting through at every sip, not accompanying.
In this dish the oil is not a detail: it takes a lot of it, it stays in the dish, and you taste it. We use Olio Extravergine Veneto del Grappa DOP, whose bitterness is exactly right not to be smothered by the milk, and a type 1 soft wheat flour to dust the pieces without weighing them down.
History and Origins
Stockfish reached the Veneto through a shipwreck. In 1432 the Venetian captain Pietro Querini ran aground on the rocks of the Lofoten Islands and spent months among Norwegian fishermen, who showed him how air-dried cod keeps for years without salt. He returned to Venice with the fish and with the method, and from that moment the Serenissima had a protein that survived long voyages and days of abstinence.
In Sandrigo, in the province of Vicenza, the recipe has become an institution: since 1987 the Venerabile Confraternita del Bacalà alla Vicentina has guarded its codified version — with a single *c*, as it is spelled in dialect — and every September the village festival serves it to thousands of people. The charter fixes the ingredients and, above all, the ban on stirring during cooking.
The dish begins poor and ends elegant, which is the path of much Venetian cooking: a preserved fish, an onion, a little cheese, and time as the main ingredient.
Ingredients
For the baccalà
- Soaked stockfish (Ragno grade)900 g
- White onions150 g
- Whole milk250 ml
- Olio Extravergine Veneto del Grappa DOP 500ml180 ml
- Aurum Farina di Grano tenero tipo 160 g
- Salted anchovies30 g
- Grated Grana Padano30 g
- Chopped parsley1 tablespoon
- Saltto taste
- Freshly ground black pepperto taste
To serve
- Cornmeal for polenta300 g
- Water1.2 litres
- Coarse salt1 teaspoon
Nutritional Values per Serving
Values calculated from the recipe's ingredients using the CREA food composition tables, and from the labels of our products where available. They are an estimate per serving, not a laboratory analysis.
Equipment Needed
- A shallow earthenware or aluminium dish, wide enough to hold the pieces side by side
- A meat mallet or a rolling pin to beat the stockfish
- A fish server, or two forks
- A polenta pot
Tip: The wide dish matters more than it seems: the pieces must sit side by side in a single layer and be covered by the liquid. Overlapping, they cook unevenly, and since you cannot stir there is no putting it right.
How to Make Baccalà alla Vicentina: the Original Recipe
Beat and soak
If you start from the dried fish — you need about 350 g to reach 900 g soaked — beat it with a meat mallet or a rolling pin, wrapped in a tea towel: this breaks up the fibres and lets the water in. Put it in a bowl of cold water and leave it two or three days in the fridge or somewhere cool, changing the water roughly every eight hours. It is ready when the flesh has turned soft and thick again, and opens with your fingers. Many fishmongers sell it already soaked: in that case start from step two.
Chef's tip: Do not cut the soaking short out of haste: a piece still hard in the middle stays hard even after four hours of cooking, because by then the liquid no longer gets in.
Clean and flour
Open the stockfish out like a book and remove all the bones, the backbone included, leaving the skin on: it is the skin that holds the piece together through the long cooking. Cut into pieces of about five centimetres and turn them in the flour, shaking off the excess. The type 1 soft wheat flour binds the cooking juices without making them heavy.
The soffritto and the dish
Heat a third of the oil and soften the very finely chopped onions over a low flame for ten minutes: they should turn translucent, not take colour. Add the desalted and boned anchovies and melt them into the oil with a wooden spoon, then the parsley. Arrange the stockfish pieces side by side in the dish, pour over the soffritto, the milk and the remaining oil until they are covered, and dust with Grana, salt and pepper.
Pipare, four and a half hours
Set the dish over the lowest flame you have — or in the oven at 130 °C — and let it pipare: the liquid should only tremble, never boil. Four and a half hours. Never stir: every so often move the dish with a circular motion, to loosen the bottom. It is ready when the oil and milk have bound into a pale cream and the fish flakes at the fork. Serve with polenta.
Chef's tip: It is better the next day: you let it rest, reheat it gently and the cream settles. It is the way they serve it in Sandrigo.
Wine Pairing for Baccalà alla Vicentina
Baccalà alla vicentina is a long-cooked dish that brings three precise forces into play: the fattiness of the fish emulsified with oil, the creaminess of the milk that binds it all, and the savouriness of the cod. It is neither a light nor a delicate dish — it needs a wine with enough structure to carry the richness of the sauce, acidity to cut the oiliness at every sip, and a bubble or a mineral savouriness that speaks to the sea without adding to the salt of the fish. Tannin has no place here: on a creamy dish it would leave only bitterness. What is needed is freshness, nerve, and the ability to clean the palate without smothering the emulsion or the anchovy in the soffritto.
The Sparkling Wine We Recommend
Sogno Manzoni bianco metodo classico dosaggio zero — Cirotto — Cirotto's Sogno is a metodo classico made from Manzoni Bianco, aged on the lees for 42 months and produced with zero dosage. It brings exactly the three things baccalà alla vicentina asks for: the very fine bubble that cuts the oiliness of the oil and milk at every sip, a lively acidity that carries the richness of the dish without being overwhelmed, and an intense mineral savouriness that speaks to the cod without adding to its salt. The breadcrust notes from the lees pick up the toasted quality of the anchovy in the soffritto, while the toasted almond and citrus aromas of Manzoni Bianco — a cross between Riesling and Pinot Blanc — find a meaningful match in the parsley. The zero dosage leaves the mouth clean and dry, ready for the next bite, with no sweetness that would jar on a savoury dish. The long ageing gives it enough structure not to be crushed by the creaminess of the baccalà. Serve it at 8-10 °C, poured slowly to preserve the perlage.
Want to know more about the grape? our guide to metodo classico
If You Prefer a Still Wine
Garganega Verona IGT — Norah's Farm — If you would rather do without the bubble, Garganega is the Veneto white that works best on baccalà alla vicentina. The sustained acidity cuts the oiliness of the sauce at every sip, the mineral savouriness speaks to the sea without adding to the salt of the fish, and the delicate scent of white flowers, almond and citrus does not clash with the parsley and the anchovy in the soffritto. At 12 degrees it has enough body to carry the creaminess of the dish without being crushed, yet stays fresh and easy to drink. The dry, clean finish finishes the palate without leaving sweetness that would jar on a savoury dish. It is the white that has always gone well with polenta and baccalà in Vicenza, and tradition is not wrong. Serve it at 10-12 °C, a little less cold than the sparkling wine so the aromas open up.
Craft Beer as an Alternative
Reckless Bock Beer — doppio malto — If you prefer beer to wine, what you want is a double malt in the Dunkel Bock style: the full body and the substantial strength (6,8%) carry the richness of baccalà alla vicentina without being crushed, the decisive carbonation cuts the oiliness of the oil and milk with more energy than the wine's bubble, and the caramel and dried fruit notes of the malt speak to the toasted quality of the anchovy in the soffritto and to the emulsified fish. The restrained bitterness balances the savouriness of the cod without attacking it, while the alcoholic warmth supports the richness of the dish. Choose this route if you are after a glass with more structure and more embrace than the wine, one that accompanies the baccalà with less acidity and more malty roundness. Serve it at 10-12 °C, never too cold, so the caramel and dried fruit notes open up.
Want to know more about the style? read the guide
Serve It With
Polenta is not a side dish, it is half the dish: it is there to gather up the cream, and for that reason it should be soft if the baccalà comes to the table in its dish, or grilled in slices if you plate it. The yellow cornmeal version is the traditional one; the white, more delicate, is used with fish in the Vicenza area and holds up well here too.
The Olio Extravergine Veneto del Grappa DOP that went into the cooking is useful raw as well: a thread over the grilled polenta, before serving, brings back to the mouth the fresh bitterness of the olive that four hours of heat have mellowed.
Variations
- Without cheese. The Confraternita's charter calls for it, but there are Vicenza versions that leave it out: the dish stays drier and the flavour of the fish cleaner. If you leave it out, increase the milk a little.
- In the oven instead of on the hob. At 130 °C with the dish covered the heat is steadier and the risk of catching on the bottom almost disappears: it is the safer route if you do not have a heat diffuser.
- With the onion in two stages. Half in the soffritto and half raw, chopped, between the layers: a livelier hint of sweetness remains at the end of cooking.
- Baccalà mantecato, if you are short of time. It is another dish and another city — Venice — but it starts from the same stockfish and takes one hour instead of five.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are salt cod and stockfish the same thing?
No, and the difference is the method of preservation: **salt cod** is cod preserved **in salt**, **stockfish** is cod **air-dried** without salt. Baccalà alla vicentina is made with stockfish, despite the name: in the Veneto «baccalà» ended up meaning both.
So why is it called baccalà alla vicentina?
Because the name comes from the Venetian dialect, where *bacalà* — with one *c* — means stockfish. The Venerabile Confraternita of Sandrigo indeed writes it «Bacalà alla Vicentina». Calling it stockfish alla vicentina would be more accurate, and nobody would call it that.
What does «pipare» mean?
It is the Vicenza verb for the cooking of this dish: a barely perceptible simmer, in which the liquid quivers without ever reaching the boil. The name comes from the sound, like the gurgle of a pipe. If you see bubbles breaking at the surface, the heat is too high.
Can I shorten the soaking?
Not really. It takes **two or three days** with the water changed every eight hours, and the reason is mechanical: the water has to reach the centre of the piece. If a hard core remains, four and a half hours of cooking will not soften it, because by then the fibre absorbs nothing more. Some fishmongers sell stockfish already soaked: in that case start from step two.
Why must you not stir?
Because soaked and floured stockfish flakes apart: stirring gives you a shapeless cream instead of whole pieces in a bound sauce. The circular movement of the dish is enough to loosen the bottom, and that is what the charter prescribes.
How long does it keep?
In the fridge, covered, **two or three days**, and the next day it is better than the first. Reheat it over a very low flame or in a bain-marie, never in the microwave at full power: the cream of oil and milk would split.
Which wine goes well with it?
A white with acidity and a fine bubble, one that cuts the richness of the milk and oil without smothering the fish: a **metodo classico with zero dosage** is the best route. If you prefer a still wine, a **Garganega** with a good acid backbone does the same job with less vivacity. A tannic red does not: on a creamy dish it leaves only bitterness.
