Klippfisk (Bacalao)

Name: Klippfisk (Bacalao)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Norwegian
Ingredients: 800 g klippfisk (salted dried cod), soaked and cut into chunks; 800 g potatoes, sliced 1 cm thick; 3 onions, sliced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 2 red bell peppers, sliced; 2 cans chopped tomatoes; 100 ml olive oil; 1 red chilli, minced; Black olives and crusty bread, to serve

Salt-cod stewed with tomatoes, potatoes, onions and olive oil — Norway's Iberian-inflected coastal classic.

1 hr 30 minModerate

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Cultural Context & History

Kristiansund built its fortune on klippfisk — cod split, salted and dried on the coastal rocks. Trade with Spain and Portugal sent the ships home with tomatoes and olive oil, and bacalao became a Norwegian dish in a Mediterranean accent.

Ingredients

800 g klippfisk (salted dried cod), soaked and cut into chunks
800 g potatoes, sliced 1 cm thick352 kcal · 7.4 g protein · 1.9 g fat · 74.1 g carbs per 100 g
3 onions, sliced38 kcal · 0.9 g protein · 0.1 g fat · 8.5 g carbs per 100 g
3 cloves garlic, minced167 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 33.3 g carbs per 100 g
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 cans chopped tomatoes22 kcal · 1.2 g protein · 0.2 g fat · 3.2 g carbs per 100 g
100 ml olive oil900 kcal · 0 g protein · 100 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
1 red chilli, minced67 kcal · 3.3 g protein · 0 g fat · 6.7 g carbs per 100 g
Black olives and crusty bread, to serve

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

Heavy lidded casseroleHolds a steady, gentle heat that braises without stirring.
Sharp chef's knifeCuts the potatoes to an even 1 cm so they cook through together.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

1
Soak the klippfisk in plenty of cold water for 24 to 36 hours, changing the water twice a day, then drain and cut into generous chunks.
2
In a large casserole, layer the sliced onions, garlic, potatoes, bell peppers and cod.
3
Pour over the chopped tomatoes, olive oil and minced chilli.
4
Bring to the boil, cover, and lower the heat to a bare simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours without stirring, shaking the pot gently now and then so nothing catches.
5
Scatter with black olives and serve with plenty of crusty bread.

Chef's Tip

Taste a sliver of the soaked cod before it goes in — it should read as pleasantly salty, not fierce; if it still bites, give it a few more hours in fresh water.

Chef's Tip

Like most bacalao, it is even better the next day once the layers have settled, so make it ahead if you can and warm it through gently.

How this page was made

Written by: The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked: 2026-07-21 — “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context: Vestlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources: No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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