Fish ‘n’ Brewis

Twas a great marnin’ on da water...I know first hand because I had to go to be the third person in the boat. I didn’t catch the biggest cod fish, but I did catch the first one! We didn’t see any whales this morning, but I was told that yesterday they saw whales and porpoises. I can’t swear to the authenticity of the story because you know men and their fishing stories lol.

So I decided last night that I was going to cook fish 'n' brewis today and use some of the fish I hoped to catch. It's necessary to decide you are going to cook fish 'n' brewis the day before because you have to put the hard bread in water overnight.

Hard bread, hard tack...whatever you call it and where ever you get it, it was a staple for our ancestors, mainly the men, when they went in the woods or out sealing. I can't imagine living on mainly hard tack for weeks at a time, but obviously history tells us that it can be done.

The most common form of hard bread is Purity.

Made in St. John's on Blackmarsh Road. When Purity Factories had a workers' strike several years ago, it caused quite a commotion!

Anyway, you need to soak the hard bread in water overnight. The general rule of thumb is that you need to soak one cake per person and one for the pot. Since I was hoping to have some left over to fry up tomorrow for breakfast (yes you read that correctly!), I decided last night to go with four cakes for the two of us. I usually put the hard bread in the pot I will use to cook it in the next day, and then put enough water in the pot to cover all the hard bread with about two additional inches of water. If you want to use a bowl, that works too. Just be sure that the hard bread is completely immersed in water and there is some additional water. Cover and let it sit on your counter until you are ready to cook it.

The fish for fish 'n' brewis is always cod. Fish is a synonym for cod here in Newfoundland. If anyone tells you they are going fishing, you know they are going for cod. We trout, we salmon fish, we go for mussels, we pick up the caplin that roll on the beaches, and some few of us go smelting or go to dig clams, but if we are going fishing we are going for cod.

Back to my recipe. I generally use one piece of cod per cake of hard bread, which means that I needed 4 pieces of cod. These aren't huge pieces. Generally they are about 6 to 8 inches in length and up to an inch thick. If you are buying your cod at the store, you might need about one and a half to two regular fillets for four servings. When we get our fish ready for freezing we cut the really big fillets in three pieces and the normal fillets in 2 pieces to freeze or pan fry, and like I said, these are usually from 6 to 8 inches long. I'm using fresh cod today. Very fresh. Caught this morning. But when a Newfoundlander says fresh cod, it might have been in the freezer all winter. Fresh cod means as opposed to salted cod or corned cod. The recipe is exactly the same for either type of cod, but if you use salted cod or corned cod you might have to soak the cod for a while to remove some of the salt. That's another blog for another time. Today I'm using fresh cod that was also freshly caught.

The only other ingredients are salt, salt pork and an onion.

Salt pork. Yes it is a thing.

In some stores you can buy a piece out of a 5 gallon bucket that they keep in the cooler, but usually now we buy it in freezer packs. I prefer to buy a chunk in a freezer pack, but when I went to buy this last week the only packs available were those that are labelled as pork scrunchions. It's the same thing as the chunk that I prefer, except the pork is pre-cut in about 1 cm cubes. You might think well isn't that easier. Not really because these pieces aren't small enough.

So I put about 1/4 of a package (most packages are around 500g or a little over a pound) on my cutting board and cut them up smaller into about half cm or quarter inch cubes.

Now these have to be fried to make the scrunchions that the package advertises. I like to use my iron frying pan to do this because the fat gets really hot and I'm a bit leary about the coating on my good frying pans at this heat. But a lot of people use their stainless steel pans or even their coated pans. Your choice.

Fry them on a medium heat until they are rendering out nicely and starting to shrivel and brown.

In the meantime coarsely chop your onion into about cm long pieces.

You also need to put your hard bread in a covered pot (as I said before, I put it in the pot I'm going to use to cook in when I soak it) with additional water added to completely cover all pieces of the overnight soaked hard bread. Cook on high until the water is almost boiling. When the water reaches that almost boiling point, remove the cover and turn off the heat under the pot. When I first learned to make fish 'n' brewis my mother told me that 'Brewis don't boil'. She knew as I do that is grammatically incorrect, but remember, 'Brewis don't boil'.

The fish will be boiled, so it also has to go in a pot with water covering it completely. If you use a big pot you are less likely to boil it over. And yes I know this from experience. Add about a tablespoon of salt, and turn the burner on high until the water comes to a boil. Once the water is boiling turn the heat back to medium high and let the fish boil in the water for 20 minutes. If the fish is thick, boil for an additional 5 minutes.

This was a really big pot because the pot I usually use was in the refrigerator filled with soup from yesterday. Each of these pieces of cod are from 6 to 8 inches in length. 

Back to the scrunchions. When the salt pork has rendered and is turning brown like the photo I showed you above, add the onion to the pan.

Stir constantly until the onion is starting to brown, and then turn off the heat. The pork and onion will continue to cook in the fat which is in the pan. Whatever else you do, DO NOT DRAIN OFF ANY OF THIS FAT lol. I hope no cardiologist ever reads this blog post lol.

Test your hard bread (now brewis) with a fork. If it is soft, drain it in a colander and then put it back in your pot. Break it up with a knife into about 1 inch cubes or smaller. If it is not soft. let it sit in the hot water until you can't wait any longer lol. It usually cooperates if you had enough water  over it when you soaked it overnight.

When the fish has boiled for 20 minutes, drain it in the same colander (I'm all about not using too many dishes. We already have two pots and a frying pan on the go here!). It will usually flake into smaller pieces, but if it doesn't break it up into bite size pieces or smaller.

Using a large spoon, count the spoonfuls of fish that you transfer from your colander to your serving bowl. Then add the same number of spoonfuls of brewis. You might have some brewis left over. You decide if you want to put it all in your fish 'n' brewis. I prefer around a 50-50 blend, but that is a personal preference.

Mix thoroughly, and then pour the scrunchions and onions from your frying pan in the fish 'n' brewis.

Mix well again.

Now I have to admit that you don't have to add the scrunchions and onions to the bowl of fish and hard bread. Some people who are trying to make this dish a little healthier omit the scrunchions and onions completely. Others put it in a bowl and place it on the table so that people can add as little or as much as they want. Others take only the pork and onion and add to the fish 'n' brewis and leave the rendered fat in the frying pan. You do what you like. All added and mixed together tastes best, but admittedly is not best for you. Maybe as a treat on the day that you actually caught the cod???

The last step is to serve it up on a plate and eat it.

Some people add ketchup or molasses over top, and some people sprinkle with some additional raw onion. I like some raw onion if I don't add scrunchions. But if it is all mixed as it was today, I think it tastes perfect as is. Probably not perfect for you...everything in moderation right? lol

If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, fry it up the next day for breakfast or lunch. It can also be frozen in meal sized portions and later thawed and heated in the microwave. 

Recipe for Fish 'n' Brewis

Equal number of pieces of cod* and hard bread
1 tablespoon of salt
1/4 pound (around 120 g) of salt pork, cut into quarter inch (half cm) cubes
1 onion, chopped

*Cod can be fresh, salted, or corned. It it is salted or corned you may need to soak overnight. Omit the salt when boiling the cod.

Soak the hard bread overnight. Bring almost to a boil in a covered pot of water. Remove cover and let sit in the hot water until ready to serve.

Render the salt pork in a frying pan. When brown, add the onion. When the onion begins to brown, turn off the heat and allow the pork and onion to continue to cook in the hot pork fat.

Boil the cod in a pot of water (with the salt if the cod is fresh) for 20 to 25 minutes.

Drain the hard bread (brewis). Return to the pot and break it up into bite sized pieces.

Drain the fish and if necessary break it up into bite sized pieces.

With a spoon, add the fish to a large serving bowl, counting the number of spoonfuls. Add the same amount to brewis. Mix thoroughly. If desired, pour the salt pork (scrunchions) and onion over the cod mixture and mix again. Otherwise, serve the scrunchions and onions in a separate bowl so that the desired amount can be added individually to each plate.