Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

From our home to yours, the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team and Burnsed Family, hope that 2011 will be a wonderful Thanksgiving for America. With all Americans looking forward to a new and prosperous future . Remembering we are one nation under God.

Many years ago, New England's coastal regions stuffed fish for their Thankgiving dinner rather than turkey, and most often that fish was cod or haddock. This results in a wonderful melange of stuffing, flaky, mild fish with just a touch of smokiness from bacon. To be truly traditional you serve this cod recipe with boiled or roasted potatoes and peas, but you could go anywhere with this. If you use a large cod for this recipe you can serve 4-6, a haddock will probably serve only 2. Check the links below to see some excellent stuffing recipes.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 65 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 whole codfish or haddock
• 1 batch of your favorite stuffing (See Below)
• Kosher salt
• 8-10 strips of bacon
• Lemons to serve
• 2-3 wooden skewers

Preparation:

Make sure the cod or haddock is well scaled and washed. You can leave the head on or off -- your choice. Snip off the fins with shears or scissors. Salt it lightly and place it on a greased baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stuff the fish with your favorite stuffing; I like oyster stuffings for this recipe. Put the excess stuffing (there is usually lots left over after stuffing) in a casserole dish to cook alongside the fish.

Close the cavity of the cod with the skewers by threading them in and out of the belly. You could sew it shut, too, but this is a lot of work.

Lay strips of bacon over the fish on the diagonal. If you remove the head, make sure bacon strips cover the cut end well or it will dry out.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes per inch of thickness of the cod, usually between 40-50 minutes. Once the bacon is crisp, remove it and serve it with the potatoes. At any rate, remove the bacon at least 10 minutes before the end of cooking to crisp up the skin.

To serve, carefully remove the cod from the baking sheet -- you may need to use two large spatulas -- to a serving platter. Remove the skewers and let the stuffing spill out on the platter. Arrange the lemons and the boiled or roasted potatoes around and serve at once.

I like a buttery Chardonnay with this dish, but really any full-bodied white would do well.

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Three Great Stuffings to Try

• Oyster and Bread Stuffing
• Basic Stuffing Tips
• Vegetarian Apple and Bread Stuffing