A no-cook saltfish breakfast salad — soaked, flaked salt cod tossed raw with tomato, onion, sweet pepper, lime, and oil, eaten with avocado and fried bakes.
Buljol — from the French brûle gueule, 'burn-mouth' — is the Eastern Caribbean saltfish salad eaten for breakfast: shredded salt cod tossed uncooked with tomato, onion, pepper and plenty of lime. The name warns of the fierce raw pepper.
Spoon up buljol — flaked savory salt cod brightened with lime, juicy tomato, sharp raw onion, and a prickle of scotch bonnet. Bite: the saltfish is savory and a little salty, the lime and tomato fresh and tangy, the onion crunchy, the pepper warming. Cool, sharp, and bracing — the Vincentian breakfast salad, scooped onto a fried bake with creamy avocado.
Soaking the salt cod rehydrates it and removes most of the salt; the dish is then assembled raw, the lime 'cooking' the onion slightly and brightening the fish. Oil carries the flavors and softens the edges — a fresh, no-cook preparation defined by acid and freshness.
Variations
With avocado mixed in. With cucumber. Spicier. With a little garlic. With smoked herring instead. Served warm.
On the Palate
Where Buljol sits in the Vincentian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active + 10 min waiting
- 112 min
Soak 300 g salt cod overnight, changing the water; flake finely (boil briefly if still very salty).
Watch outTaste a flake after soaking — it should be pleasantly salty, not harsh; if it still bites the tongue, boil a minute and drain, or the whole salad turns out too salty to fix later.
- 25 min
Dice 2 tomatoes, 1 onion, and 1 sweet pepper.
- 32 min
Finely chop a little scotch bonnet.
- 42 min
Combine the flaked saltfish with the diced vegetables.
- 52 min
Dress with the juice of 2 limes and 3 tbsp oil.
Watch outAdd the lime and oil while everything's cold — the acid should just soften the raw onion's bite and brighten the fish, not drown it.
- 62 min
Season with black pepper and chopped chive.
- 710 min
Toss and rest 10 min for the flavors to meld.
Watch outRest ten minutes and taste again — the flavors marry and mellow; a fresh squeeze of lime just before serving wakes it back up.
- 81 min
Serve with avocado, fried bakes, or roasted breadfruit.
