Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Codfish and Potatoes
Bermuda's traditional Sunday plate: salt cod and potatoes with egg, avocado, banana, and a tomato or egg sauce.
Bermudian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 40 min
~513 cal · 39g protein · 64g carbs · 12g fat · 11g fiber · 13g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Codfish and potatoes is Bermuda's traditional Sunday breakfast, a dish with deep roots in the island's history, when salt cod was a staple import and a reliable protein. It remains a cherished weekend ritual for many Bermudian families.
Salt cod is soaked and boiled with potatoes, then the plate is built up with a remarkable spread of accompaniments: hard-boiled egg, sliced avocado, banana, and either a tomato-based sauce or a rich egg-and-butter sauce, depending on the household.
The mix of savoury fish and potato with sweet banana and creamy avocado is distinctive. Codfish and potatoes is a slow, sociable start to a Bermudian Sunday, a plate that carries the island's Atlantic heritage.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1.25 lb salt cod, soaked
2 lb potatoes, in chunks
4 eggs, hard-boiled
3 tomato
1 onion
3 cloves garlic (sauce)
1 tsp fresh thyme (sauce)
1 avocado, to serve
2 banana, to serve
Instructions
1
Boil the soaked salt cod (or hearts of palm) with the potatoes until both are tender; drain.
2
Make a tomato-onion-garlic sauce with thyme in a little oil.
3
Flake the cod and combine with the potatoes.
4
Top with the tomato sauce and hard-boiled egg (or extra avocado).
5
Serve with sliced avocado and banana on the side.
Hamilton Sunday tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Hamilton. Bermuda fish chowder takes no flour and no cream. The body comes from long reduction and the gelatin in fish heads and bones, and the tomato base is dark. The rum and the sherry peppers go in at the table by the diner, and Bermudians count both as part of the dish rather than a garnish.
🗺️
Bermuda. Bermudian fish chowder takes no flour and no cream, and cooks are emphatic about it: the body comes from long reduction and from the gelatin in fish heads and bones. It is finished at the table with two things, black rum and sherry peppers, the latter descended from a sailors' habit of fortifying sherry with bird's-eye chillies.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bermuda
Bermuda Banana BreadA dense, moist banana loaf, lightly spiced and buttery, that Bermudians bake for breakfast and afternoon tea alike.
Bermuda Fish SandwichA generous fried fish fillet piled with slaw and tartar sauce on sweet raisin bread, Bermuda's iconic weekend lunch.
Bermuda Rum CakeA dense, buttery cake soaked in dark Bermuda rum, the island's signature celebration dessert.
Browse all Bermuda recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Bermuda meal
Rum SwizzleDrink
Bermuda Rum CakeDessert
Bermuda Fish SandwichLunch
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Codfish and Potatoes?
Bermuda's traditional Sunday plate: salt cod and potatoes with egg, avocado, banana, and a tomato or egg sauce.
Where does Codfish and Potatoes come from?
Codfish and Potatoes is a Bermudian dish from Hamilton, Bermuda.
Can Codfish and Potatoes be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Codfish and Potatoes recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Codfish and Potatoes safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Codfish and Potatoes take to make?
About 60 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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