Alexei Zimin. Cod meatballs

On one hand, it’s sort of like a pixelated image of Leonardo’s Vitruvian man; on the other hand, it’s a completely customized auswiss. Expeditions of archaeologists from Ceres of the coming centuries will have to break all six of their purple heads to figure out what place in the row of cross, swastika and magendovid this square seal of the devil occupies.

However, even to us, contemporaries, much remains unclear. On the one hand, we’ve long since become a collection of numbers, and it no longer takes chipping to count all the hairs on your head, but on the other hand, there’s such a heavy-handed archaic expressiveness to the QR code sign that it’s easy to imagine, for example, a Tower prisoner, on damp London nights, carving into the chalky Norman stone the Quar Code of his calamities.

Developing this thought, one could build a whole Babylonian library, and you and I know that the real dignity consists not in how far you can throw the seine, but how in time you can stop in this business. So let’s drop the QR at this point and leave only the code, which in English means cod (no pun intended, but hopefully it’s clear that we’re translating from Cyrillic, where cod is cod, not code).

So, cod, a great fish that deserves a monument in any European city, but doesn’t even get a QR code (we’re definitely putting a stop to puns and jokes at this point).

This fish has saved Europe from starvation several times and continues to play a significant role in the diet, although starvation does not seem to be a threat. I appreciate cod in all its forms, but today let’s take a look back at fried cod balls, an Iberian delight.

Put the fish in a saucepan and pour cold water, bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes. Then drain the water, return the fish to the sauté pan and repeat the procedure again. Then place the fish in a bowl and mash it into fibers with a fork.

Boil the potatoes in a jacket pot, cool and put them in the refrigerator for an hour, then peel, finely chop and add to the fish. Add chopped thyme leaves, beaten egg, finely chopped onion, salt and pepper. Knead the minced meatballs and make small equal meatballs with your hands. Heat 55 ml of oil in a cast iron skillet and fry half of the meatballs in it for 6-8 minutes, place on a plate. Then add the rest of the oil and fry the rest of the meatballs. Serve, lightly flavored with lemon juice or arranged with lemon slices.

Cod meatballs

Cod fillet (600 g)
Potatoes (900 g)
Thyme (5 g)
Onion (1 head)
Chicken egg (1 piece)
Salt, ground black pepper (to taste)
Vegetable oil (100 ml)
Lemon (1 piece)

Source: Kommersant Weekend