The Bakaliaro (Μπακαλιάρος) Sandwich is fried battered salt cod packed into bread, a Greek take on the deep-fried fish sandwich built on a preserved fish that has to be handled before it ever sees the fryer. The angle is two-stage: the cod is salt-cured and must be soaked back to life, then battered and fried, and both stages have to land or the sandwich fails. Done right it is a thick, crisp-shelled, savory piece of fish in bread; done wrong it is either punishingly salty or a soggy, bland slab.
The build begins long before assembly. Salt cod is soaked in several changes of cold water until it rehydrates and the salt drops to an edible level; too short and the fish is inedibly salty, too long and it turns flabby and washed out. The drained cod is then coated in a batter, often a leavened or beer-style batter that puffs and crisps, and fried in hot oil until the shell is deep gold and the fish inside flakes and stays moist. Only then is the sandwich assembled: a sturdy roll or split loaf, the hot battered cod laid in, and a sharp counterpoint, classically a garlicky purée such as skordalia, plus lemon. Good execution shows correctly desalted fish, a batter that is crisp and dry rather than oily or raw, and a bold sauce that stands up to the fish. Sloppy versions show their faults plainly: cod still too salty from a rushed soak, pale batter that goes soft against the bread, oil-logged fish, or a sauce too timid to balance the fry. The fish goes in hot and is eaten soon, since a fried shell against bread softens fast.
It shifts by batter and by sauce. A thin batter eats lighter and lets the cod lead; a thick puffed one gives a dramatic crunch but demands very hot oil to stay crisp. The garlic element can be a heavy potato-and-garlic skordalia or a lighter lemon-garlic dressing, each changing how sharp the sandwich reads. Small whole fried smelt in bread is a related but distinct fried-fish sandwich, and seafood rolled into a flatbread is another preparation again; each deserves its own article rather than being crowded in here.