The Rodney Dangerfield of the Cod family: Pollack

Last week we reported on the plentiful, delicious and under appreciated hake. There is another fish in the cod family that really deserves more credit then it gets and that fish is pollack.

Pollack has a little darker flesh then cod or haddock and a bit more fat and flavor, but it’s a fine fish that can be used in any cod recipe and it doesn’t deserve to be the Rodney Dangerfield of the cod family—it just gets no respect.

At our market we should sell a lot more pollack then we do! Is it in it’s name? Are people afraid to ask for something that they think sounds like a derogatory name for a Polish person? Is it the darker color? I don’t think so ’cause we sell tons of blue fish and mackerel. Maybe people are confused with the Alaskan pollack that show up in many forms including most frozen fish fillets used in fast food restaurants, frozen fish sticks, surimi products that include artificial crab meat.

Alaskan pollack is the largest fishery in the world, but its light bland meat doesn’t compare with north Atlantic pollack  (which is what we sell at the market). Maybe people associate the widely distributed and lightly processed Alaskan pollack with our beautiful fresh filleted Atlantic pollack. This is a fish that has been marketed in the U.S. As Boston bluefish and is now commonly called Boston blue cod. We could probably sell more fish if we simply gave it a sexier moniker but we’ve always been very strict with our labeling.

There are thousands of fish in the world all with their own interesting or unusual names.A pollack is a pollack just as a croaker is a croaker or a grunt is a grunt. Call ’em what they are and enjoy them. You may have already tried pollack if you’ve sampled our fish ‘n chips, fish sandwiches or our fish tacos. The lowly pollack is ready for its due! The time is right! The stocks are plentiful, the price is right (in a time of rising wild fish prices). So give it a go. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. Pollack with Caramelized Onions