The next day, the fish and hard bread are boiled separately until tender, and then both are served together.

The traditional meal is served with scrunchions,[2] salted pork fat which has been cut into small pieces and fried.

In some Nova Scotia households, a similar dish is known as "salt cod and pork scraps", where the mixture can also be served on a plate next to a mound of plain boiled potatoes and carrots or turnip.

The meal was originally developed by sailors who were often at sea for so long that few fresh ingredients were able to withstand such lengthy trips.

[citation needed] The idea that sailors called the hardtack or sea biscuit brewis (pronounced 'brews') because of their practice of bruising or breaking up the bread into bite-size pieces is a false etymology, and it has been argued more convincingly that the word "brewis" dates back to Middle English,[3] originally referred to bread soaked in fat or dripping and is cognate with brose.