Cod has captured the hearts and minds of civilisations all over the world for thousands of years. In Italy, cod is so common that is has different names according to the way in which it is presented – depending on what you're buying you might hear it referred to as merluzzo (fresh or frozen fish), stoccafisso (air cured) or baccalà (salt cod). The latter, baccalà, is commonly eaten as part of the Italian Christmas Eve meal, known as La Vigilia or 'The Feast of the Seven Fishes'. With its succulent, meaty white flesh and distinctive flavour cod remains ever popular, despite recent concerns of overfishing; take care to buy your fish from a sustainable source.

This collection of delicious cod recipes showcases the flavourful white fish to perfection in a variety of interesting ways. Teresa Buongiorno marinates the fish in a heady mix of herbs in her Confit cod recipe, while the Cerea Brothers' pan-fried cod fillet recipe is served with corn bisque and a creamy corn bavarois. The Cerea Brothers also share a fantastic seafood pasta recipe, Linguine with cod and Amatriciana sauce, which can be served as an elegant Italian starter dish or scaled up for a delicious lunch.