A Salty Piece of Balsa Wood, or a Fish?

The east coast is almost the best place for cod. If you want baccalao, you need to go either to Portugal, or to Macau. At teatime in the IFT hotel, they serve baccalao cakes, egg tarts, and more. By itself, baccalao is like eating flexible balsa wood loaded with salt. Nothing else, just salt. But if you soak the cod for a day, changing water every three hours, and cook it correctly then boards of salted wood can be good. Breaded on the outside with chives, these cakes are just like crab cakes, but better. If you are sitting on couches, at three o-clock, with waitresses racing each other to fill our glasses, the experience is enhanced greatly.