Why We Wrap Cod in Pancetta

Cod is mild, lean and quick to dry out. Pancetta is salty, fatty and slow to give up its flavour. Put one around the other and each fixes what the other lacks.

It is an old habit along the Mediterranean. In Italy, Spain and Portugal, cooks have been setting white fish beside cured pork for a very long time. The pork seasons the fish from the outside and keeps it moist. The fish gives the pork something clean to sit against.

What happens in the pan

The pancetta takes the heat first. It crisps and renders, and its fat bastes the cod underneath. By the time the outside is golden, the fish inside has cooked gently in its own wrapping.

You cut through something crisp and find something soft. That contrast is most of the pleasure.

Where it sits on the platter

A platter needs range. The butter-poached salmon is the gentle one. The croquettes are rich. The cod in pancetta is the savoury one.

It is part of our Friday Seafood Platter.