Week 34: Opposite Side of the World - Bacalhau à Gomes de Sã [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: It's week 34 already and this week we're taking it to the opposite side of your world! This doesn't mean you have to cook something from the literal opposite side of the world, but this week we're letting you pick the far away cuisine that you would like to try to cook. The general opposite of North America is Australia, but since we already had Australian week, a lot of us may want to try something from another far away place instead. For example, if you live in Canada, try something from South America or something all the way in South Africa. The basic idea is to try something new from somewhere pretty far away. And for those of you that are curious, you can use this as a guide to find the exact opposite from where you live.

As the Intro pointed out, North America is on the opposite side of the world from Australia, and we've already done Australian cuisine for a prior week's challenge.  So instead, I decided to go with the opposite side of the ocean!  If you were to travel straight across the Atlantic from New York City, you would find yourself in Portugal, so I chose to make a Portuguese dish.

Salt cod is a very popular item in Portuguese cooking, and Bacalhau à Gomes de Sã seemed like a good recipe to try.  For those who don't know (like me), you can typically find salt cod in a wooden box in your local supermarket.  If you're lucky to have a specialty store near you, you can get a whole salt cod!  

Unfortunately, I have to say this was not my favorite dish.  Salt cod just isn't my jam.  I found it to be overwhelmingly fishy.  However, the combination of potato, onion, fish, egg, and olive was actually really intriguing, both from a taste and texture perspective.  While I didn't end up liking the dish, it was definitely a fun foray into cooking with a new ingredient and I'm glad I tried it!