Cod brandade

The day before
Scrape the cod a little (to remove the salt).
Cut into regular pieces, and soak for 24 hours to desalt (renew the water several times, at least 5 times).

The next day :

Rinse the potato and cook for 20 minutes in boiling water (starting in cold water).
Do not salt.

Meanwhile, put the cod in a saucepan of cold water with bay leaf and boil for 10 minutes.

Remove and drain.
Carefully remove all bones and skin, and keep the flesh warm.

Preheat the oven at 200 °C (390 °F)
Cut the bread into small pieces.
Place them in a dish and sprinkle with a dash of olive oil, about 5 cl.
Put in the oven under the grill a few minutes to get croutons.

Squeeze the lemon juice.
Warm the milk and 30 cl of oil in two separate saucepans.

In a 3rd saucepan in a bain-marie, put 10 cl of oil and the cod.
With a wooden spoon (or a potato masher, but no blender), stir until the cod soaks all the oil. Then, while continuing to beat, gradually add oil and milk (alternately).

Check that the potato is cooked (a knife should enter in easily), then remove it from the water and peel it.

When the cod mixture is creamy (no longer discerning pieces), add the potato and mix again.
Finally add the lemon juice, grate a little nutmeg and garlic.

Season to taste (pepper, garlic and salt).
Serve hot, covered with croutons.

St Malo inhabitants, before going fishing in Newfoundland (Canada), used to exchange a bit of dried salt cod (gadus morhua) against salt in the Aigues-Mortes harbor. This is where this dish was invented. "Brandar" means to shake in Occitan.
Buy some quality cod (or dried salt cod) : it should be thick. Remove all bones with tweezers (once fish is soaked again). Brandade used to be a Good Friday classic.
Potatoes helps to thicken the texture (and often to reduce the cost), but is not necessary. Dried garlic can be replaced by fresh garlic finely chopped.