I am going to Portugal in a few weeks and wonder whether it's against the rules to bring salt cod back. I live in the midwest and simply cannot get good salt cod anywhere. And I have also tried in vain to find it online (if you have a source, please do tell!). I've checked the regulations on the US gov's website, and here's what I've learned.

Certain fish and wildlife, and products made from them, are subject to import and export restrictions, prohibitions, permits or certificates, as well as requirements. CBP recommends that you contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before you depart

But contacting the US Fish and Wildlife Service has proven to be a challenge, so any information you have would be most appreciated. Laurie

You know it stinks, right? Were you thinking of checking it in your luggage with your clothes? Or subjecting everyone on the plane to the smell?

That's not exactly what I'd call a helpful response. Of course I know it smells, and I have some good packing bags for putting it in my checked luggage, having brought back my fair share of odiferous local treats over the years. So if anyone has anything to say that's not so snippy, I'd appreciate it. Laurie

Hi Laurie,

I looked on the web site that tells what you can bring but it only references daily, meat, and meat product; nothing I could find about fish. I was amazed that dry soup and bouillon cubes are not allowed - I've brought them back and a friend has just mailed me Knorr ham bouillon from England as I can no longer get them here.

I think that if the fish is vacuumed packed you have a better chance of bringing it in. I've only been asked about dairy products in recent years; not about meat or fish.

We have a large Portuguese population near where I live and many Portuguese restaurants. I will try to find out if there are any Portuguese stores (I'm sure there are) and if they have salt cod. What sorts of questions should I ask about the salt cod? I've only eaten it in Portugal and once it was delicious and once it was fishy and don't know much about it.

PS - When I ordered it, the fish did not stink! It's salted for goodness sake - should last a long time.

The site references dairy, not daily! It's late here and my typing is bad!

>>bouillon cubes are not allowed<<<

Bouillon cubes that aren't meat based are allowed. I always bring back porcini bouillon cubes.

kybourbon - I should have clarified that but as I was talking about meat and meat products I was referencing bouillon containing meat. I've brought back other cubes as well, w/o meat, but I need my ham cube fix and I was just amazed that it is disallowed. I'll have to tell my English friend that she's now on the "wanted list." LOL

http://www.amazon.com/Fishermans-Fle.../dp/B0006HCG04

also if you have a little Italy like here in Boston, you should be able to find it there.

if you live in an area with a puerto rican or Spanish population you can buy here. As far as smell, it is dried and does not. It is dried hard and you soak it to use. It would not smell though I would not put in my luggage with clothing. I do not believe you can legally bring it back however, though you could could try and worse case scenario prepare to have it confiscated. It is not expensive so no worries if it was I guess if you are dying to bring back.

Laurie
If I knew you wanted salted cod, I would have sent it to you from Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania Macaroni always has boned and deboned at Christmas. I can also find out from the woman that I took a Seven Fishes course from in November.

Now. I don't know how much is available at this time of year but the stuff is everywhere in Pittsburgh at Christmas.

Sherry

Can't you substitute Norwegian Lutefisk for Bacalao? We have a large Scandinavian population here in the North West, and it is easily obtained, especially around Christmas. It is disgusting, by the way.

Bacalao is too, IMHO.



The joke they tell around here is, "We used to have a problem with raccoons, but we threw out some Lutefisk and the raccoons went away. Now we have a family of Norwegians living under the house."

Lutefisk is not the same as Portuguese salt cod though. Lutefisk is wet, bacalao is dry until you prepare to use.

Lutefisk is gross as mentioned and less forgiving for cooking.

I'm sorry you're struggling to get an answer either from your government or from your fellow-citizens.

I'm not going to be much more helpful: but I know a bit about import laws around the world. It's quite common even for countries with the toughest restrictions on importing foreign meat or veg to have looser rules about sea fish, which can't be claimed to "come" from any country. The Portuguese tradition of eating salt cod developed from Portuguese fleets catching their cod in North America and preserving it there to ship home. Even today, the likelihood is that the cod was caught a lot closer to your home than to Portugal.

So salt cod might well be a legal import. However, your country DOES have savage restrictions on importing some fish and seafood where US fishermen have sought protection from more efficient foreign competition, and there's legitimate concern about the sustainability of the world cod supply so you do need to check.

One technique I occasionally use with some rich-country civil servants too lazy to answer emails is to head the message "Freedom of Information request" and include a gentle reminder of their legal obligations under their country's FOI legislation.

On simple, non-controversial, matter like yours, that usually gets a reply jolly quickly.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I LOVE the FOIA request idea! I'm going to poke around some more, see if I can actually contact the Fish and Wildlife Service, and get back to you.

My experience is that dried cod does have a noticeable odor, though certainly not as much as unsalted, undried fish, so I think my heavy air tight bags that I usually use for bringing back cheese will be helpful.

Cigalechanta, I'm wondering if I'm right that the Amazon.com source sells re-constituted (that is, salted and dried and then soaked and frozen) cod. The picture looks like it, and that's what I've found at other online sources. Has anyone had experience using this reconstituted cod? I know it has become a minor issue among Portuguese cooks -- those I know who use it are embarrassed about it and try to keep mum about it. There's a NY Times article on the switch from dried to frozen from a couple of years ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/wo...6cod.html?_r=1
What would Portuguese grocery stores look like without those piles and piles of dried cod????

Thanks, Sher, for your very kind offer to ship. I'll let you know when I get back from my trip if I had success buying it and bringing it in, if not, I'll explore some of these other options.

Thanks again, everyone, Laurie

I've just returned from Portugal. I noticed a store in the Duty Free section call "Gourmet". They had cut up bacalhau in sealed plastic containers. They had two types: one for 14 Euro per kilo the other for 19. It was cut up in larger pieces much like any merchant would do if asked.
This store is located near Gates 16 & 17

IMO, what US Customs is looking for in the food world are plants, fruits, fresh or semi ripe cheeses & meat products.
I once aked an agent about aged cheese like Parmesan and was given an OK. Of course that was not an offical responce.
This is all driven by the USDA.
I wouldn't think twice about bringing back salted cod fish or any dried or canned fish.

Laurie, I don't know US import regulations, but if you live near a large city, any place that has a large Jamaican population should carry dried salt cod. So would any place with Newfoundland expatriates -- but we're pretty scarce in the midwestern US.
I've eaten salt cod in Venice, so would an Italian specialty grocery carry it?
If you can bring it back--don't put it in checked luggage. yes, it's dried, but if anything happened to the luggage which caused it to get damp, I'm sure it would produce a malodorous mess!
And no, lutefish is NOT at all the same. Lutefish is made with lye.

I have brought back boxed shrink-wrapped salt cod from Portugal (though I purchased it in Spain) with no problems, but that was before U.S. import laws got all weird. It had no smell at all and would have been impossible to get damp or wet, given the packaging. I can't imagine why it wouldn't get into the country, except that I have encountered Ag staff who just didn't know what stuff was, couldn't read a foreign language, weren't familiar with the rules, and just confiscated it because they could. At any rate, I'd look for the boxed, shrink-wrapped stuff. It was absolutely delicious in a brandade, by the way.

Wow, I am all set thanks to you guys. Sher, your Pennsylvania Macaroni tip is fabulous. http://www.pennmac.com/ Lots of things in addition to dried salt cod, as well! And I am going to go ahead and bring some back in my suitcase and see what they say. I did manage to talk to someone at the Fish and Wildlife Service who told me they had no problem with dried salt cod, but of course she couldn't speak for some of the other federal agencies. Yeesh, talk about bureaucracy run amok.

Anyway, I'm going to give it a try next month and will report back. But StCirq's post gives me great hope! Thanks all, Laurie

you say you live in the midwest I assume USA - in that case you can contact Seabras @ seabrassupermarket.com (they are located in Newark NJ) and they will mail you the bacalhau. I hope this helps.

You can bring it from Portugal but of course it smells - I would recommend to wrap it very well in paper and then inside sealed plastic bags - some of the smell will still come through but not as much if it is really wrapped in lots and lots of paper.

Having grown up in an Italian section in Brooklyn, I'm very familiar with Baccala, as it's called in Italian. It's available in Frederick, Maryland, where I now live. I think it should be fairly easy to buy it in an Italian, Hispanic or Portugese area anywhere. This reminds me of my younger days in Brooklyn when the local grocer used to place the baccala in the sun, propped up under his window. The story was that dogs used to walk nearby, lift their legs, and bless the dried fish. That was OK, it made it taste better! My mother used to buy the baccala and soak it in the bathtub under slowly running cold water. That was fine, except that it was hard taking a bath with the doggone fish in there!