CHEF STUDENTS IN PORTUGAL TRIED THEIR HAND AT ICELANDIC SALTED COD

Chef students in Portugal tried their hand at Icelandic salted cod.  Earlier this month the annual CECBI cooking competition took place in Portugal, where young and aspiring chefs had a go at preparing Icelandic salted cod. The competition has become well established and is now a regular fixture in the activities of culinary schools throughout Portugal. There is always great anticipation surrounding the event, as the winner and their teacher are awarded a prize trip to Iceland.

This year’s competition was held at the Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Oeste culinary school in the town of Caldas da Rainha, roughly 80 kilometres north of Lisbon. Students from eleven culinary schools across Portugal took part, each having earned the right to compete by winning preliminary rounds within their own institutions. The overall winner was 19-year-old Tiago Papafina from the culinary school in Portalegre, who received a trip to Iceland along with his teacher.

The judging panel included Marlene Vieira, head of the jury, a Michelin-starred chef and well-known television personality in Portugal, Ísak Aron Jóhannsson, captain of the Icelandic National Culinary Team, and Miguel Telles, a prominent Portuguese food blogger. Tiago and his teacher will travel to Iceland in September alongside other winners and teachers from both Portugal and Spain. Coverage of the event was featured on the Portuguese television channel CMTV.

The day prior to the competition, a workshop was held in which Ísak Aron Jóhannsson gave a demonstration for the participants and invited them to sample a variety of salted cod dishes from his own repertoire. Nuno Araújo, managing director of the Portuguese company Grupeixe (a subsidiary of Vinnslustöðin in the Westman Islands), also delivered an informative talk on Icelandic salted cod. In addition, the previous year’s winning student and teacher from Portugal shared their experiences of the trip to Iceland they had earned the previous autumn.

Ísak Aron Jóhannsson, captain of the Icelandic national culinary team, expressed both surprise and pride at the prominent role Icelandic salted cod plays in Portuguese cuisine. “This is my first time in Portugal. I knew salted cod was important here, but I hadn’t realised just how widespread its use is. I went to a restaurant that served only salted cod dishes and had the chance to taste a variety of preparations,” he said.

“It didn’t matter which restaurant you visited – salted cod was everywhere. The same applied to supermarkets, where it featured prominently. I was particularly impressed by the dish Bacalhau à Brás, which is a combination of shredded salted cod, straw potatoes, onions, eggs, and olives,” he added.

The competition and accompanying workshop are part of a successful collaboration between the Bacalao de Islandia marketing project and the Portuguese tourism and hospitality organisation Turismo de Portugal, and were widely regarded as a great success.