Sadly, a tradition that my dad never carried on from his youth. All he talks about is how bad the house smelled when my grandmother would rehydrate and then cook the baccalĂ . Now, for us, it's in the past.
I'm glad that you, and your family, are carrying on with it. Your meal looks great and I'm sure that your family it.
Tee, I'd always heard it was an Italian custom, obviously associated with the strictures of the Catholic Church. After all, historically, Italy has only been about 112% Catholic. Christmas Eve (La Vigilia di Natale) was one of the days that, in the Pre-Vatican II days, you could not eat meat.
But, we were talking about it over the holidays this year and my mom, who is Polish/Catholic, said that her family also did this when she was young.
BD