Pollock

Pollock is the quiet workhorse of the global white-fish trade — most North Americans have eaten it far more often than they realize, usually as the breaded fillet in a fast-food sandwich, the surimi in a California roll, or the fish stick in a kid's lunchbox. Belonging to the cod family (Gadidae), it shares the same family tree as cod and haddock but tends to be milder, more delicately textured, and far cheaper. Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) drives the bulk of world production and is the largest U.S. fishery by volume, second only to Peruvian anchoveta globally; the Atlantic species, known in Europe as saithe or coley, is the same kind of fish European cooks have long treated as a fresh-table fish in its own right.

In the kitchen, pollock behaves like a blank canvas. The flesh is pearl-white, very lean (around 1% fat), and flakes apart more readily than cod — ideal for breaded, battered, and surimi applications but unforgiving when overcooked. Pull it from heat at 140°F (60°C) and let carryover finish the job; past 145°F (63°C) the flesh turns chalky and dry. The lean profile also means it takes beautifully to smoking, drying, and canning, which is why so much of the catch ends up preserved rather than sold as fresh fillets.

Where pollock most clearly justifies its own pantry shelf is in its dried Korean forms — myeongtae and hwangtae — where salt-curing and air-drying concentrate the flesh into a savory, almost meaty ingredient that drives some of Korea's most beloved winter soups and banchan. In Northern Europe, smoked saithe plays a similar role as an everyday preserved protein. The fish's mildness is a feature, not a limitation: dress it up with bold sauces, dry it into pantry gold, or leave it simply seared with butter and lemon.