Esgarraet
“Cold Valencian salad of charred red peppers, shredded salt cod (bacalao), garlic, and olive oil — eaten with bread as a tapa or starter.”
Where it comes from
Esgarraet is a Valencian Lent dish, born of Catholic fasting rules that forbade meat but permitted preserved fish. Salt cod was the year-round Atlantic-imported protein for inland Spain, and roasting peppers was already standard summer technique. The pairing was codified in farmhouse cooking around the Albufera and Ribera del Júcar regions, served at room temperature with bread because it was peasant food made in advance for field workers. The name is dialect Valencian, not Castilian Spanish.
On the plate
Cold and silky. Smoky char-sweet pepper strips meet salty fish strands, slick with green-grass olive oil. The garlic doesn't cook — it stays raw and sharp, biting through the smoke. Texture is all softness, no resistance, which is why it sits on bread that gives crunch. A spoonful left on the bread overnight is even better — the juices soak in. If your peppers taste bitter or dusty, the char wasn't deep enough.
How it works
The dish is technically a quick olive-oil cure: bacalao is already preserved by salt, and dropping it into oil with garlic for 30 minutes at fridge temperature softens and aromatizes it without further cooking. Two non-obvious things matter: the peppers must be charred to translucency (gives sweetness without raw vegetable crunch) and the cod must be torn not cut (creates fibrous edges that hold oil). Replacement with canned roasted peppers gives a flat, watery version — the smoke is part of the seasoning.
Valencian Lent dish from Albufera and Ribera del Júcar farmhouses — Catholic fasting forbade meat but allowed preserved fish, and salt cod was the year-round Atlantic protein. The bacalao must be torn not cut: fibrous edges hold the oil; clean cuts go slick.
Variations
Albufera-side version with chopped olives stirred in; Ribera del Júcar style adds a hard-boiled egg; some Alicante tapas bars now spoon it onto coca instead of bread.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓25 min active · 35 min waiting
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓- 110 min
Soak 200g salt cod (bacalao) in cold water 24-36 hours, changing water 3 times. Squeeze dry, then shred by hand into long strands following the grain — 'esgarraet' means 'torn' in Valencian.
Watch outTaste a sliver before using — under-soaked cod is overpoweringly salty and ruins the dish.
- 212 min
Char 3 large red bell peppers over open gas flame or under the broiler at 250°C, turning until skins are uniformly black and blistered, 12 min total. Tip into a covered bowl; steam 15 min.
Watch outThe skins must blacken completely — pale spots will resist peeling and leave bitter flecks.
- 38 min
Peel skins under cool running water, remove stems and seeds. Tear flesh into 1cm strips by hand — never knife-cut, the rough edges hold the dressing.
- 43 min
In a wide bowl, combine pepper strips and shredded cod. Add 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves, 80ml extra-virgin olive oil from Bajo Aragón or Sierra Mágina if possible. Toss gently with hands.
- 530 min
Refrigerate 30 min so the cod cures slightly in the oil and the pepper juices loosen. Taste before serving — usually no salt needed (cod brings it). Serve cold with crusty bread.
Watch outDon't add salt before tasting — bacalao varies and you'll wreck it.
