Mark, are you maybe looking for "baccalao"? This is dried salt codfish used in
Spanish, Basque, some Caribbean cuisines, and (I believer) by some Oriental
cultures. It comes in large slabs and has to be soaked in water for a couple
of days before use. I grew up eating it in fritters and stewed in a tomato
sauce (yum!)but I regret that I never learned how to cook it. I've seen a lot
of recipes in cookbooks and Internet sites for baccalao, however, so maybe one
day I'll get brave and try one out...