Bacalhau and Cod are different fish, but they're close enough in the kitchen to stand in for one another.
Gadidae
Atlantic cod is a cornerstone of European and North American food culture, with a mild, flaky white flesh that has fed populations for centuries. It is sold fresh as thick fillets and steaks in the UK and US, and as salt-dried bacalhau in Portugal and Brazil — a product so culturally embedded in Iberian cuisine that Portugal alone is said to have a different bacalhau recipe for every day of the year.
Full guide →Gadidae
Fresh Atlantic cod (*Gadus morhua*) as it's sold in French and northern-European fishmongers — firm, white-fleshed, mild, and flaking into large pearly leaves when cooked. The same species that becomes salted Morue (Bacalhau in Portuguese) when cured for months, but treated as a different culinary entity in fresh form: cabillaud rôti with hollandaise, cabillaud poché à l'huile d'olive, dos de cabillaud en croûte d'herbes, and the bistro classic cabillaud sauce vierge are built around its mild profile and clean separation. Once cured into Morue, the fish reaches a different shelf in the same shop; the recipes change too — brandade, accras, bacalhau à brás. The naming convention reflects this: in modern French, cabillaud always means fresh, morue almost always means cured.
Full guide →Same species (Gadus morhua), but treated as different culinary products. Cabillaud is fresh and mild; bacalhau/morue is salted and dried for months, with a concentrated flavour and chewy texture. The dishes built around each are distinct — cabillaud poché vs morue brandade.
| Country | Bacalhau | Cabillaud |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Cod | Cod |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Cod | Cod |
| 🇫🇷France | Morue | Cabillaud |
| 🇪🇸Spain | Bacalao | Bacalao fresco |
| 🇦🇷Argentina | Bacalao | Bacalao |
| 🇲🇽Mexico | Bacalao | Bacalao |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Bacalhau | Bacalhau fresco |
| 🇧🇷Brazil | Bacalhau | Bacalhau fresco |
| 🇮🇹Italy | Baccalà | Merluzzo |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Stockfisch | Kabeljau |
Browse every species in the atlas on the fish index, or identify one from a photo with Identify my cut.