Ingredient: Cod
Category: Fish
Season: All
Cod is the common name for the genus Gadus of fish, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name of a variety of other fishes.
Cod is a popular food fish with a mild flavour, low fat content and a dense white flesh that flakes easily.
Cod livers are processed to make "cod liver oil", an important source of Vitamin A, Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA).
Larger codfish caught during spawning are sometimes called skrei.
The Atlantic cod fish, which can change colours at certain depths of water, has two distinct colour phases: gray-green and reddish brown. Its average weight is 10 to 25 lb (4.5—11.3 kg), but specimens weighing up to 200 lb (90 kg) have been recorded.
Young Atlantic cod or haddock prepared in strips for cooking is called scrod. Cods feed on mollusks, crabs, starfish, worms, squid, and small fish. Some migrate south in winter to spawn. A large female lays up to five million eggs in mid-ocean, a very small number of which survive.
The Pacific cod is found north of Oregon.
The tomcod resembles a young Atlantic cod with long, tapering ventral fins. It rarely exceeds 15 inches (37.5 cm) in length and lives close to shore.
The pollock, also called coal fish or green cod, is a plump olive-green cod found in cool waters of the Atlantic.
Pollock have forked tails and pale lateral lines and grow to 3 ft (90 cm) and 30 lb (13.6 kg). Some grow to 6 feet in length.
In the United Kingdom, cod is one of the most common kinds of fish to be found in fish and chips, along with haddock and plaice.
It is consumed in Portugal, where it is considered a treasure of the nation's cuisine.
It is an important link in the food chain.
Cod are currently at risk from over fishing
Species sometimes marketed as cod:
Some fish that do not have "cod" in their names are sometimes sold as cod.
Haddock and whiting belong in the same family, the Gadidae, as cod.
Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus)
Whiting (Merlangius merlangus)
CULINARY DESCRIPTION
The cod is a lean fish with firm, white flesh that readily flakes apart when cooked.
Its culinary uses are almost endless, like some of its sister fish - pollock, hake, and haddock.
All are very similar in appearance and texture in the raw, skinless, boneless state.
The cod, when cooked, has the firmest texture.
Traditionally
Cod has been salted, fried, and creamed.
Now, however, many other cooking techniques are being used, such as steaming, poaching, baking, and broiling.
With a more health-conscious public, fat-free cooking styles are becoming more popular.
A delicate fillet of cod, lightly seasoned and simmered in white wine, fresh tomatoes, and herbs, then finished with low-fat yogurt, makes an excellent meal and does justice to this fish and any of its family members.
Cod weigh up to 14 lb (6.5 kg), so lends itself well to thick steaks, cutlets and fillets, but sadly it loses much of its flavour if not eaten very fresh.
Because in recent years stocks of cod and haddock have become more scarce in our own coastal waters and that has increased the price, look out for a very similar deep-water fish, see Hoki.
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