Bermuda Codfish and Potatoes
“Bermuda's traditional Sunday breakfast — salt cod soaked overnight, then boiled with potatoes and served with hard-boiled egg, banana, and a tomato-based 'codfish gravy'. A direct legacy of the Newfoundland-Bermuda salt-fish trade.”
Where it comes from
Codfish and potatoes is Bermuda's most-traditional Sunday breakfast, brought by the Newfoundland salt-cod trade (Bermuda was a key transit point). The unusual combination with banana derives from the British custom of serving sweet-savory pairings; bananas grow on the island. The 'tomato sauce' is a Bermudian creation specific to this dish.
On the plate
Build a Bermuda Sunday breakfast bite — fork a slice of warm potato, top with flaked cod, dip into the tomato-warm gravy, finish with a slice of cool sweet banana. Bite: salty-savory cod plays against the bland creamy potato; the tomato gravy's acidity cuts through; the banana brings unexpected tropical sweetness that somehow balances the salt. The hard-boiled egg adds rich body. The combination shouldn't work — but it does, beautifully. With a strong cup of black tea and a Sunday morning newspaper, this is Bermuda's most-Bermudian breakfast.
How it works
Overnight soaking is the only way to make salt cod edible at home — under-soaked cod is inedibly salty. Boiling the potatoes in their skins keeps them from absorbing too much water. The tomato gravy is essential — without it, the dish is too dry. The banana isn't a quirky garnish; the cool-sweet element is structurally important to balance the heavily-salted cod.
Variations
Codfish breakfast with fried egg instead of boiled. With bacon added. With ackee (Jamaican-Bermudian fusion). With avocado instead of banana (modern). With grilled tomato (British-influenced). With Bermuda onion rings.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
9 steps · Show ↓30 min active · 690 min waiting
How it's made
9 steps · Show ↓- 1480 min
Soak 500 g salt cod in cold water overnight in the fridge, changing water 2-3 times.
- 222 min
Drain. Place in a heavy pot; cover with cold fresh water; simmer 20 min until tender. Drain; flake into large pieces, removing skin and bones.
- 326 min
Boil 800 g potatoes (whole, in skin) in salted water 25 min until fork-tender. Drain; peel; cut into thick rounds.
- 49 min
Hard-boil 4 eggs (8 min from boil). Cool in ice water; peel.
- 516 min
Make tomato gravy: in a saucepan, sauté 1 sliced onion in 2 tbsp butter 4 min. Add 400 g canned tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp black pepper. Simmer 12 min until thickened.
- 62 min
Slice 4 bananas crosswise.
- 74 min
Plate: arrange potato rounds in a fan on each plate. Top with flaked cod. Place a hard-boiled egg (halved) and 1 sliced banana alongside.
- 81 min
Ladle tomato gravy over the cod and potatoes.
- 91 min
Serve immediately, hot.
