Brandade de Morue is a specialty of Nimes, an ancient town in the department of the Gard, part of Occitanie in the south of France. The Romans chose the area around the city as one of their major settlements, and left many traces, from aqueducts to arenas. The dish we are going to make, brandade, is a specialty of Nimes, which seems odd since there is no port. But that’s why the dish was so important. Catholics, required by the church to fast on Fridays, could only eat fish. But they had no access to fresh fish so they relied on salt cod, like so many land-locked areas. They had an abundance of olive oil and garlic so, voila, brandade was born! It’s the simplest of dishes, yet so sumptuous that, personally, I’ve always been grateful to the ancient Nimois for dreaming it up. I am, though, using fresh cod in this version, which we salt ourselves. My reasons are two-fold: good salt cod is hard to find, and it’s fun to make your own salted fish. Team it with a crisp winter salad, like the one here, and heaven is nearby!