Bermudian Codfish Breakfast

Bermuda is a group of islands which are a British territory in the Atlantic Ocean, about 650 miles from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The territory is self governing on local matters, with foreign policy and military defense provided by the government of the United Kingdom. The British monarch is the head of state. Bermuda has been under English/British rule since the 1600s, but it has had influences from other cultures over time, including from the Portuguese, who brought salt cod (Portuguese: "bacalhau").

When I was a kid until a young adult, the term "Bermuda shorts" was commonly seen or heard for somewhat "dressy" short pants that came to just above the knee, but it's not a term heard much anymore in the United States, or at least not to my knowledge. Likewise, "Bermuda onions" was often heard in reference to sweet onions, but that's another term with scarce usage in the U.S. today. About 20 years ago, a student, a young lady, rented an apartment in a building I managed. When she moved, she gave me a gift (see photo #1, below), which I have kept. I hope she and her family are all well. I believe it was her maternal aunt I met at one point, but the young lady's mother remained back in Bermuda. Very, very nice people! 

This is generally a Sunday breakfast or a breakfast for some special day.

Ingredients (4 servings):

1 1/2 pounds salt cod (or boneless fresh or thawed cod)
12 to 15 small potatoes, washed and halved (or you can cook larger potatoes and then cut them into chunks)
1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes with some juice
2 tablespoons regular ketchup
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 hard boiled eggs, halved lengthwise
1 or 2 avocados
4 bananas 

If you're using salt cod, soak it for about 24 hours, changing the water 4 to 6 times, then cook the cod in a pot with fresh water over medium heat. Maintain a good steady simmer until the cod is tender, about 15 to 25 minutes, depending upon the size of the cod pieces. Drain the cod, let it cool a bit and use two forks to flake the cod and remove any bones. Of course, if you use fresh or thawed cod, you needn't soak it, and you can check for any bones before cooking it. When you cook fresh or thawed cod, add a little salt to the water, something you will not likely have to do if you use salt cod.

(When I made this dish for this article, I fully intended to buy some small potatoes, and cook them with the peels left on, but as this was during the covid pandemic, I had bought a large amount of bigger potatoes to have them on hand, and I thought it best to use those up, so that's what I did. I peeled the larger potatoes before cooking, and almost all of the recipes I read for this dish called for peeling the potatoes.) So, while the fish cooks, in another pot, cover the potatoes with water and bring them to a boil, cooking them until tender (about 20 to 30 minutes). You can boil the eggs separately, but I just let them cook along with the potatoes for about 10 minutes. Now I know there are various recommendations about boiling eggs, like bringing the eggs to a boil for a couple of minutes and then shutting off the heat and letting the eggs sit in the hot water for a certain number of minutes, but I cooked them with the potatoes and I haven't died, although my funeral is set for 2 days hence. hahahaha ... Hey, what the hell am I laughing about?

In a skillet, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, green pepper, yellow pepper and celery. After about 2 minutes, add the garlic. Continue to saute the vegetables, then add the diced tomatoes. Cook until the vegetables are softened, then add the tomato sauce, ketchup, thyme and black pepper. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking for another 8 to 10 minutes, stirring to mix and to prevent sticking.

To serve: add some flaked cod and some potatoes or potato pieces to each plate. Top both with some of the sauce (in the photos below I used just a little of the sauce, so that the cod and potatoes could be seen), add some slices of avocado and banana to the plate, along with a halved hard boiled egg (which I forgot to add for the pictures, but I must admit, the notice that my funeral is 2 days off did shake me a bit).   

WORD HISTORY:
Scrod-This word is related to "shred," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and it is somewhat more distantly related to "shear," another word from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to the Indo European root "sker," meaning "to cut," which produced an extended form "skreu," meaning "to cut up, to cut." This gave Old Germanic "skraudanan," meaning "to cut up, to cut off." This gave Old Dutch "scrodan," meaning, "to cut off," which then became "scrode," meaning "to cut off in pieces, to shred," and this produced the noun "schrood" meaning "a piece of something cut off." English borrowed the word around the mid 1800s (as "schrod?") with the meaning, "white fish split or cut into pieces for cooking or salting," perhaps influenced in that meaning by the unrelated fish name "cod" (for quite awhile the meaning was applied to split young/small codfish, but then broadened to simply "whitefish"). Some relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Schrot" ("coarse meal or split or crushed meal," thus also, "shot;" that is, "pellet in a shell or cartridge"), German also has "Schrott" ("piece of scrap metal," also, "rubbish" (both in the literal sense and the figurative sense of 'nonsense'), Low German has "Schroot" ("coarsely milled grain"), Dutch "schroot" ("scrap metal"), Frisian had "skred/schred." 

Mexican Breakfast: Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles (pronounced as if, "chee-lah-key-lays") is a common dish in Mexico, especially for breakfast. It can be made with red sauce or green sauce. I've streamlined the process here "a little," as traditionally, Mexicans have used tortillas and chicken leftover from the day before to make this dish. The tortillas were cut into wedges or pieces and then fried until crisp. Store bought tortilla chips cut down on the time needed. You can find cotija cheese in many supermarkets, cheese shops, or most certainly in Latino shops, but you can easily substitute feta cheese. Further, Mexican Crema is commonly used, but again, if you can't find it, the mixture I've listed is a quick and easy substitute.

30 tortilla chip triangles (white or yellow)
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, red or green, homemade* or store bought
1/2 cup crumbled Mexican cotija cheese or feta cheese
1/4 cup Mexican Crema **

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Put the tortilla chips in the skillet and spread them out. Add the enchilada sauce and bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to low. Let tortilla chips soften slightly, remove from heat. Place on serving dishes and add crumbled cheese, then spoon some Mexican Crema over each serving. Serve with fried egg(s), sliced avocado sprinkled with a little lime juice, shredded chicken or bite sized pieces of chicken, or refried beans. 

* For homemade red enchilada sauce:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/05/red-enchilada-sauce.html

** To make a quick "version" of Mexican Crema, 3/4 cup sour cream thinned with 5 tablespoons of buttermilk and with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt stirred in.

Click to enlarge photo... Chilaquiles with chicken and refried beans

WORD HISTORY:
Corral-This word, distantly related to "car," "carriage" and "course," all of Latin derivation, and borrowed by English, goes back to Indo European "kers," which had the notion of "to run, move swiftly." This gave Latin the verb "currere," meaning, "to run," which produced the noun "currus," which meant, "chariot." Hey, when you've got a chariot, you've got to have a place to park it, and that was a Latin "currale," meaning, "an area for keeping a chariot." This gave Spanish and Portuguese "curral/corral," and it later simply meant, "enclosure, usually for cattle." The word was borrowed by English from Spanish in the late 1500s, with "perhaps" later reinforcement from Dutch/Afrikaans "kraal," in southern Africa, a word Dutch borrowed from Portuguese "curral/corral," as both the Portuguese and the Dutch were involved in southern Africa before heavy British involvement there. "Kraal" meant "a fenced in area for animals."      

Scrambled Eggs & Kippers or Sprats

This German dish, also known by a couple of variations, but essentially, "Rührei mit Bückling" (Scrambled Eggs with Kippers), originated in the north of Germany, along the Baltic Sea, where herring was plentiful, and where one type, "Kieler Sprotten" ("Kiel Sprats," "Sprotte" is the German singular), young lightly smoked herring, were used to make the dish in and around the city of Kiel. "Kippered herring" are readily available in supermarkets, and you even might find German "Kieler Sprotten" in some supermarkets, if you would like to try them. The dish is easily used for lunch by adding some fried potatoes on the side, and also a nice cucumber salad. 

Ingredients (per serving):

2 to 3 eggs, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons milk (I use evaporated, "canned," milk, NOT sweetened condensed milk)
1 tablespoon butter, for frying
bite-sized pieces kipper fillet (or 4 or 5 Kieler Sprotten, if you have them) 
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon salt
"a good pinch" of white pepper (black pepper is fine, too)
fresh or dried dill for sprinkling on top
1 slice rye bread (a rye-wheat bread, called "Roggenmischbrot," is traditional, but regular rye, white or wheat bread is fine)

Heat a non-stick skillet with the butter over low heat. Add the onion and cook a minute or two to soften the onion. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper. Add the eggs to the skillet and scramble them. Put the kipper on top of the bread slice (I toast mine). Put the scrambled eggs on top of the fish, then preferably, sprinkle on some fresh dill, but dried dill is fine, too.  

"Scrambled Eggs & Kippers" on toast, with fried potatoes and some cucumber and red onion topped with reduced fat sour cream

WORD HISTORY:
Sprat-This word, closely related to "sprout" and more distantly related to "spread," goes back to Indo European "sper-id," which had the notion of "strew, toss about." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "spruitanan," meaning, "to sprout, to spring forth," from the notion, "come forth from the strewn seed." This gave Old English "sprott," a noun form, and meaning, "a small fish;" perhaps literally, "a sprout of a fish." This then became "sprotte," before eventually becoming "sprat." German has "Sprotte," but this seems to have been borrowed from Low German Saxon, which has "Sprott," and Dutch has "sprot." I could not find a form in the difficult to research Frisian dialects, but it wouldn't surprise me if one or all have (or at least, had) forms of the word, as it "seems" to have developed in the Germanic languages around the North Sea and western Baltic, where the fish were commonly caught for food. The high German dialects apparently did not have this form of "sprout," as they were further south, away from the Baltic and North Seas.         

An English Breakfast (Fry Up)

February 15, 2019, edited slightly to include a link to my article about English beans, as that article was originally published after this article about an English breakfast.
 

This really isn't a recipe in the true sense, but rather the components of an English Breakfast, although these components are not all used by everyone, and other components, like fried mushrooms, blood sausage (black pudding), and/or "white pudding" (no blood, but ground meat with grain, often oats, as a filler), are included, or replace some of those listed. It is commonly known as a "Fry Up" in England and other parts of Britain.

So, an English breakfast, or fry up, typically includes: eggs (fried or scrambled), bacon (which is meatier than American bacon in England, as it includes more from the loin, and only a small part of the fat from the 'belly' used in American bacon, and it is called "back bacon"), baked beans in tomato sauce, which most often are not really "baked," and they aren't really quite the same as American baked beans,* fried ripe tomato (tomato halves typically fried in the bacon fat), fried potatoes, fried bread (fried in butter or in the bacon fat) and sausages.

* For homemade English beans, here is the link to the article:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/09/english-beans.html

From the top: bacon, fried ripe tomato half, fried potatoes, fried bread, Heinz English-style beans, fried sausages and scrambled eggs.

WORD HISTORY:
Fast-This word, closely related to the verb "fasten," "seems" to go back to Indo European "pehst," which had the notion, "firm, solid, fixed in place." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fastuz," with the same meanings; thus also, "secure." This gave Old English "fæst," meaning: "steadfast, secure, firm, strong." This then became "fast," and it has remained such for many centuries. While the original meaning has remained, the further meaning of "quick" began to develop in the 1200s and 1300s, "perhaps" from use of "fast" with words of motion (fast runner, fast horse, fast wagon), but it didn't fully develop until the 1500s. Generally the word is pronounced "fahst" in British English, but with the more nasalized "a" in American English. The meaning, "not to eat for a period of time," comes from the notion of "holding 'fast' to a diet for some observance," not just to lose weight. And its use in the compound "breakfast" means just that, "break the overnight fast." Common in the other Germanic languages, all with the same or similar meaning to their English cousin, but none with the further meaning "quick," which only developed in English: German has "fest" (the German noun "Festung," means "fortress;" that is, "secure/strong place"), Low German Saxon "fest," West Frisian "fêst," Dutch "vast" (the 'v' is pronounced as an 'f'), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian "fast," Icelandic "fastur" (somewhat more limited modern meaning "solid, tight").     

Green Eggs & Bacon

The idea behind "green eggs," is the addition of leafy greens to a mixture of eggs and other ingredients. There are a variety of recipes, but this is my version, which uses kale, a vegetable I love. 

 
Ingredients (4 to 5 servings):

6 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk (I use canned milk)

4 green onions, with green, chopped

1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded or cubed
4 slices bacon, chopped 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups bread, slices torn or cut into bite-sized pieces
2 1/2 cups kale, leaves torn into smaller pieces, any thick stems discarded 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Begin by heating the oven to 425 degrees F. While the oven is heating, using an ovenproof 10 inch heavy duty skillet (I use a well seasoned cast iron skillet, which is excellent for this), fry the bacon over medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes, depending upon how crisp you want your bacon. Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, pepper and milk together, reserve. Remove the bacon from the skillet and pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat. Add the green onion and begin cooking, gradually adding the bread pieces, along with the olive oil, then add the garlic. Let the mixture cook until the bread starts to brown a bit. Reduce heat to medium low. Stir the bacon, Swiss cheese and kale into the egg/milk and then pour this mixture over the onion/bread in the skillet. Let the eggs begin to set on the bottom, then put the skillet onto the middle rack of the preheated oven. Let bake for about 15 minutes, turning the skillet by a third every 5 minutes. The eggs should puff up and the top should be somewhat browned. Be sure the eggs are not runny, remove the skillet from the oven and let sit for a few minutes, which will cause the puffiness to deflate somewhat, then serve.

I served the Green Eggs with some lightly-salted halved grape tomatoes

WORD HISTORY:
Milk-This word, which has both noun and verb forms, traces back to Indo European "melg," which meant "to rub, to stroke," and is what you do to get milk from a cow or goat. The stroking process then became the word (noun) for the actual product, "milk." The Indo European form gave its Old Germanic offspring "melkuks" as the noun. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "meoluc," and "meolc," depending upon dialect, which then became "melk/mylk," before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have the nouns: German "Milch," Low German Saxon and Dutch "melk," West Frisian "molke," Norwegian "melk," Danish "mælk," Icelandic "mjólk" and "Swedish "mjölk." Indo European "melg" also gave its Old Germanic offspring the verb form, "melkanan," meaning "to milk." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "melcan" ("to milk"), which then became "melken," before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have the verbs: German, Low German Saxon and Dutch all have "melken," West Frisian has "melke," Danish "malke," Icelandic "mjólka," Norwegian "melke" and Swedish "mjölka." 

German Farmer's Breakfast (Bauernfrühstück)

This is a common dish for Germans, although in more recent times, it is more often served for lunch, along with a salad of some type. "Bauernfrühstück," * or "Farmer's Breakfast," was a practical way for German farmers to use up leftover potatoes or other vegetables, or even meat, from the previous day's dinner. This of course meant that these ingredients had already been cooked, and so only needed to be reheated a bit, before the eggs were added. The dish became so popular, the ingredients were prepared fresh, instead of using cooked leftovers. You can essentially add just about any vegetables or meat, as there really is not any one recipe, but traditionally, the base should be eggs, potatoes, and ham or bacon. This is simply my version here. In Berlin, they fix a form of the dish, but they have their own name for it, "Hoppelpoppel," and from what I've seen, it is simply bacon or ham, with fried potatoes and eggs, but that doesn't mean some Berliners don't add other vegetables too.  

Ingredients:

6 eggs

4 medium potatoes, sliced or cubed

5 slices of bacon, cut into about 1 inch pieces, or about a quarter pound of diced ham, or something of both

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 small to medium green or red bell pepper, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

4 to 5 tablespoons of milk
3 tablespoons butter or canola oil, or a mixture of both (in the past, lard or the bacon fat was likely used)
some parsley or chopped chives for sprinkling on top (optional)
preferably a non stick skillet, or a well-seasoned cast iron skillet

If starting with fresh potatoes, cook them, skins on, in some salted boiling water until tender. Let cool a bit, then peel, slice or dice them. Cook the bacon for a few minutes, remove to a dish, then pour off the fat. Add the butter or oil to the pan and the chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, and chopped pepper and cook until the vegetables are softened. Add the potatoes and continue to cook until heated through, or lightly browned, if you prefer. Season with some salt and pepper, and return the bacon to the skillet, mixing it in with the veggies. Combine the milk and eggs and beat until thoroughly mixed. Pour the eggs over the cooked vegetables and meat, cook until the eggs are set. Getting the eggs to totally set can be difficult, so I usually put the almost cooked dish under the broiler for just a few seconds to firm up any runny eggs. Be careful, it only takes a few seconds, and if you have a skillet with a non ovenproof handle, more than a few seconds will likely leave you with a melted or scorched handle. Sprinkle chopped parsley or chopped chives on top, if desired.

* The German noun "Bauer" is pronounced very similar to English "bower," and indeed, it is closely related to "bower." For the history of "bower" and English "boor" (which is the last part of the word "neighbor"), see the Word History of my article at this link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/06/herbert-hoover-march-toward-reactionary_22.html

This is my own picture.

WORD HISTORY:

Burn-English has two words of this spelling,^ but this is by far the most common. It goes back to Indo European "bhrenu," from the root "bhreu," which had the notion, "well up, boil up." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "brennanan," meaning "to burn," from the notion of "fire welling up." This then produced two verbs in Old English (Anglo-Saxon), "beornan/byrnan," with the meaning "be in the state of burning, be on fire, to burn;" and "bærnan," meaning "to light a fire, to set afire." The "r" and vowel sounds were transposed from the Old Germanic form, which is called, "metathesis," and this also took place in other Germanic languages. The Old English forms then became "birnen" and "bernen," but in the 1100s these became various spellings like, "brennen," "birnen" and "bernen," which eventually merged into modern "burn." The noun was simply derived from the verb "byrnan," initially as "brenne," but then "burn" by the 1500s. The other Germanic languages have: German and Low German Saxon "brennen" (to burn"), Low German also has "brannen," West Frisian "baarne" (to burn, be on fire), Dutch once had single words, but now has compounds like, "inbranden, verbranden," even with other forms of the words, Danish "brænde" (to burn), Norwegian "brenne" (to burn), Icelandic "brenna" (to burn) and Swedish "bränna" (to burn).   

^ The other form, a noun meaning "a stream, a creek," has German "Born," (water)well, spring," as a relative, but neither is used much in more recent times, except in dialect, and also for very high style in German, mainly in writing. Both the English and German forms trace back to the same Indo European source as for "burn," and they are, therefore, related, albeit somewhat distantly. 

Huevos Rancheros

This is a breakfast dish from Mexico that has spread to other countries, especially to parts of the United States. There are likely as many variations in recipes, as there are those fixing the dish, and this is my version. There are also a variety of garnishes and side dishes served with it, but this is just the basic dish.

You can make this recipe spicy hot or mild, by varying the amount of hot chilies you add (some use chipotles and their adobo sauce), but it probably should have at least a little kick to it, so don't shy away from some minimal heat. You can use fresh tomatoes and fresh mild chilies (often pablano peppers are used), but it will then require a longer cooking time. Also you can just buy a jar of good chunky salsa in place of the vegetables. 

serves 6 to 8
1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, with their juice (I used Hunts Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes)
1-4 oz. can diced green chilies, mild (there are many brand names)
2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1/2 small white onion, diced
corn tortillas (can use flour tortillas)
6 to 8 large eggs
1 inch piece of serrano chili pepper, chopped (I included seeds)
hot pepper cheese (I used Belgioioso Peperoncino Asiago)
about 2 tablespoons of olive oil total

To a sauce pan add about a teaspoon of olive oil and the onion. Cook for just a couple of minutes, until the onion softens, add the tomatoes and their juice, the green chilies (drained, if using canned), the chili powder, the serrano pepper (or whatever hot chili pepper you prefer). Keep the heat low enough that the mixture doesn't stick and burn, and stir it often. When the mixture is hot, this step is done. Coat each tortilla with a little olive oil, place a couple at a time in skillet, and let them soften, turning once to get both sides (if you like especially crisp tortillas, which I don't recommend for this dish, naturally you will have to heat them further). Keep the tortillas on a warm plate and cover. In the skillet, add a little more olive oil and fry the eggs, keeping each egg separate. The yokes should not be cooked through, unless you do not feel comfortable eating eggs with runny yokes. Now place a tortilla on a plate, top it with some salsa mixture smoothed over the tortilla, add some small pieces of cheese, and you're ready to go. You can naturally use any number of eggs per serving, but I believe most recipes I've seen call for one egg per tortilla, and you don't want the huevos rancheros police to get you!

I used two eggs for myself, but when I put the eggs on top, the one yoke broke open, as you can see. That's what I get for not using one egg per tortilla!  Hahahaha!

WORD HISTORY:
Ovum-This word, related to both modern English "egg," and the former English word for egg, "ey(e)," but not all that commonly used outside the scientific community, goes back to Indo European "owo/owyo/awyo," which meant "egg." This gave Latin "ovum," which was borrowed into English circa 1700.