Whipped salt cod with olive oil and parsley, served on polenta crostini. The canonical Venetian cicchetto, on every bacaro counter from November through Easter.

Baccala mantecato is Venice's interpretation of dried stockfish, brought back from Norway by Venetian merchant Pietro Querini after his 1432 shipwreck on the Lofoten Islands. The Venetians whip the soaked-and-cooked salt cod with olive oil into a pale emulsion (the mantecatura), the texture of a thick aioli. Served traditionally on grilled polenta crostini, it is the canonical winter cicchetto from November through Easter. Despite the name (baccala in Italian usually means salt cod), Venetians use stockfish (dried, not salted) for this dish, the legacy of the Querini trade route.

5 editor picks for Baccala mantecato in Venice, ranked by editorial score. All Venice signature dishes · Baccala mantecato across every city.