ottawa foodies

Does anyone know where can I can buy salt cod (or salt fish as it is known home) in Ottawa? I have searched and cannot find it anywhere.

Merivale Fish Market, Pelican, lots of Caribbean specialty stores...

same as chimi mentioned
if you are close to centretown, Grace
bank near nepean
you can get the dried carcass
or died pieces or even semi processed refrigerated stuff
(may say boneless but don't trust it)

M & J tropical supermarket merivale road

You can find it also at Loeb and Loblaws, in plastic bags, in the refrigerated fish section. Bone-in or boneless.

Quality of salt cod varies--the Caribbean markets seem to have the lower grade stuff--stronger flavour, less white, etc. Pelican has the good stuff.

Lapointe's has it, too, although I may try the stuff from Pelican to see what it's like.

Off-topic-ish: Does anybody have tips on how to simmer salt cod so it cooks without getting tough? I've tried making salt cod brandade, but have difficulty with the initial cooking step. Dunno if the water's too hot, or I'm cooking it too long, or I'm not soaking it enough (24-48 hours?). I know I could just Google it, but I like the personal touch that Ottawa Foodies provides ;)

I asked my Mom ... who has been preparing (flakey and fluffy) salt cod for years and years.

She tells me to do a overnight (24 hrs) soak, changing the water in the morning and again sometime before cooking.

With fresh water, slowy slowly bring the pot up to a bare simmer (NEVER BOIL !!!)... and poach it till it flakes.

I asked her so for how long .. She said depends on the thichness of the fish, what part of the fish is used (near the tail etc), is the skin on or off, boneless or bone in, how dry was it (and how salty was it) before the soaking.

(It's kinda like the answer she gave me when I asked how much flour to use when making bread. She said till it 'feels right'.)

She down played the cooking time and really stressed NOT TO BOIL.

I love my mom.

Awesome. Thanks so much for the advise, Cap'n. Given those instructions, I'm sure that the water's coming up to too high a temperature when I'm cooking it.

I'll try again soon and maybe (maybe!), if it works out well enough, I'll tell the world the recipe I've adapted.

Gosh darn, I think that brought a tear to my eye... Momomoto asks for info with a "personal touch" and Captain C asks his deal ol' Mom. What could be better... all is right in the world, when we have Mom & Apple Pie (or in this case Salt Cod).
Captain C - Ya gotta know you are one lucky dude!
:-)