Holy Week cooking: croquetas de bacalao

Spanish tradition, and Church exigiencies (more in the past than the present), required that meat be avoided on Fridays in general, but absolutely on Good Friday. When cod was less of a luxury item than it is today, it was considered a food that ‘levelled’ the rich with the poor (according to Harriet Gilmour) and so it became traditional fare for this holiest of holy days. Croquetas de bacalao (cod croquettes) is one of many ways to prepare it. This is the traditional recipe:>

Ingredients:
• 3/4 l. milk (leche)
• 1 soup spoon butter (mantequilla)
• 3 soup spoons flour (harina)
• 2 eggs (huevos)
• 600 grs. cod (bacalao)
• parsley (perejil)
• olive oil (aceite de oliva)
• breadcrumbs (pan rallado)
• salt to taste

Preparation
Cod should first be de-salted. Leave cod in water overnight, changing water 3 or 4 times, peel and remove bones the following morning, then crumble.
In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour and mix thoroughly. Add the milk very slowly and leave to cook for five minutes, stirring continually so it doesn’t stick.
Now add the cod and parsley, well chopped up, making sure it is well mixed. The result should be a thick sauce, which can now be salted to taste.
Lay out the mixture on a shallow tray or dish and allow to become good and cold. Once it is so, roll the mixture, which should now be stiff, into balls and then into the breadcrumbs.
Fry in plenty of very hot olive oil, drain and serve.