Pollock (If you'll excuse the expression!)

suweb5

Hello
This is my first post in 'Old Style' but I have been lurking for quite a while. I have decided that I must reduce the obscene amount of money I spend on food shopping. There are usually just the two of us to feed but I seem to be spending getting on for £100 a week.

My husband went shopping on his own this week and has come home with some fresh pollock because "it was cheap". I can't argue with that, it certainly is at £1.70ish for about 300gms. The problem is I don't know what to do with these greyish floppy looking things! Whenever we eat fish it has already been battered, breaded or 'sauced' and is usually frozen. Could anybody suggest what i could do with my pollock? I would be very grateful.

helyg

I sometimes use pollock in a fish pie, I usually use half salmon and half cheaper fish (eg pollock). In which case I wrap it in foil and cook it in the oven, then flake it with the salmon and mix with parsley sauce, put it into an oven dish with a couple of hard boiled eggs cut into quarters, top with mashed potato and put back into the oven until the top of the potato is brown.

I've never had it any other way though sorry.

misskool

i buy them frozen from lidl and mostly just pan fry in butter. It's a very mild white fish

fletty

We use pollock at school it's quite robust and can be used instead of cod in most recipes. We flour egg and breadcrumb it and bake in the oven and serve with parsley sauce or cut into goujons and serve with garlic mayonaise. The kids love it but never know what goujons are so we say posh fish fingers.

Pretani

Scale the fish by running a knife along the skin from the tail to the head and Fillet it.

You can either fry the fillets in a drop of butter and oil with some salt and pepper. Heat the pan up until its hot and fry skin side down until the skin becomes crispy. Don't move the fish about when frying as it will stop it crisping. Turn and fry the other side until done.

You can also batter it (which I generally prefer). Add salt and pepper to the fillet and coat in flour. Beat 1 egg and add some flour and water until you get the consistency of batter. dip the fillet into the batter and deep fry.

Pretani

suweb5 wrote: »

The problem is I don't know what to do with these greyish floppy looking things!.

You might have a coalie (coal fish), not as good tasting as Pollock. Pollock have a golden brown tinge through them, coalies are black/grey. Some are more golden then others, it all depends on ther surroundings. Another way of distinqusing between them is that the coalie lateral line is white and more straighter than the pollock. The pollock's lateral line is dark and curved near the head.


Pollock



coal fish

suweb5

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Pretani this is fillet (thank goodness I don't think I could cope with heads!) and definitely pollock. Thank you for taking the time to show me the difference though, I think I will probably steer clear of coal fish no matter how cheap.
I have some salmon in the freezer(from my extravagent days) and some eggs so it will be the fish pie, thank you helyg. I'm sure there will be a recipe on this site and if I make a big pie I can freeze some for another day.

avinabacca

Historically speaking, pollack had been a "trash fish" - not the same profit margin as cod or haddock, so less attractive to vendors. Now, with the shift to sustainability (there are loads of them, unlike, say, cod) and economy (much cheaper than alternative, more traditional white fish) it's becoming more widely-publicised.

And with good reason - a restauranteur or supermarket can charge 2/3 the price for pollack as cod, although wholesale it is perhaps 1/2 the price. Think about it - it's a similar situation to the fairly recent rises in popularity of oxtails, pork belly and lamb-shanks......

Useful fish, though - tasty and nutritious (while not as delicate of texture or flavour as cod) and can be used pretty much wherever you'd use any other white fish in a recipe. Google, say, "cod recipes" - you'll find plenty there.

Good luck!

meanmarie

My favourite way to eat pollock ( if only I could buy it fresh here!) is to skin the fillets, egg and bread crumb them and shallow fry until golden brown....delicious. Another nice way is to place in saucepan, cover with water to which you have added an onion, bayleaf and some fennel or rosemary, bring slowly to boil, turn off water and let cool with a lid on. When cold, strip skin and all small bones from fish, add some Marie Rose sauce and fold together gently. Serve with salad and brown soda bread. You could also add the poached fish to a fish pie.

HTH

Marie