Cod (but not cod)

cjdun1

Hi,

I went to buy Cod in Dunnes today - Donegal Catch - cod fillets €8 for 4 pieces - so can anyone tell me what tastes like cod, but doesn't cost the earth! I don't want anything that's breaded though.

Next thing - if I'm baking the fish (that's not breaded) how do I cook it - do I wrap it in tin foil and how long do I cook it for and on what heat????

Thanks,

C.

The Sweeper

If you're shopping in the frozen section, the cooking instructions will be on the box - oven temperature, time etc.

Most of the frozen fish products are made from offcuts or a sort of reconstituted 'fish brick' where they mix the fish pieces and then shape them before battering or breading them. To be honest, they all pretty much taste the same.

The other thing to try is buying a piece of filleted fish from the fresh counter and cooking that - just season with pepper and sea salt, and then grill it - just a few minutes each side is enough, fish doesn't take long to cook. If you watch the side of a fish fillet as you cook it you can see it cooking - it goes from transluscent to opaque as it cooks.

cjdun1

cool - thanks

Sherifu

Haddock/Whiting.

olaola

Hoki is similar to cod.

_blank_

My brother used to work on the fish counter in a supermarket, and reckons Coley is fairly similar.

Cod is classed as an Exotic fish nowadays. Which is what makes it so expensive.

CJhaughey

Big Whiting fillets are similar to cod.
Donegal Catch is a joke, It's not even made in Ireland.
Donegal catch comes from Hull in the UK and the Cod it's made from probably comes from Iceland.
Next time you are shopping have a look at the back of the pack and in very small black letters you will see a country code and a number.
From memory It is made in HU2 which is one of the big processors in Hull.
If you buy from a fish monger it is more likely to be Irish fish, not guaranteed but more likely and you will be supporting a local fisherman not a giant multinational.

ibh

Whiting and haddock as mentioned above. But these are pretty dear now as well.

If you buy from the counter you are getting a much better quality of fish cause at least it's not the scraps stuck into a batter or crumb.

If you're not really concerned about whether you buy Irish or not then in Tescos there will be Vietnamese fish. Usually Coly or maybe its Basa??. Tastes decent enough imo.

To cook it, wrap in tinfoil but not tightly, season with salt and pepper and a bit od basil maybe. I put a bit of butter on it and throw mushrooms in with it as well and they cook nicely along with fish.
New potatoes with it and you've got a smashing dinner thats not unhealthy and cheap as chips.

If you want a really tastly fish meal, pay the extra bit and get some good Hake or Sea Bass.

eoghan_dubhdara

yeah.fish....breaded.chicken.nice....

cjdun1

into the English Market in Cork like so for a daycent bit of real fish - thanks for the responses

Honey-ec

Hoki, coley or mahi mahi.

I've my family driven mad telling them to lay off the cod for a while.

Gary ITR

I presume it's the n atural cod you were buying? It's quality fish that you get in that pack. Unfortuneately the price of cod is gone through the roof and I'm sure you have all heard the stories of fishermen throwing the cod back (dead) because they have gone above their quota.

When I cook that natural cod I just bake it on a baking tray

shrapnel222

hake as well is very tasty.

i stick it in tinfoil, with soya sauce, salt pepper, a bit of ginger, garlic, spring onions, close the lot up high so it looks like a cornish pasty, then in the oven for 5-10 minutes. yum

dr.bollocko

Whiting is a great fish to cook.
I like to panfry it, starting skinside down, then watching the edges after 3-4 minutes for the golden brown colour before carefully turning to ensure the fish doesnt flake. Made some last night, then reduced a white wine sauce in the pan with some chilli pepper and a shallot. Fried off some prawns in peppery olive oil, served the cod on a bed of cauliflower, delicately draped the cream and white wine suace over that, and went around the sides with a nice circle of prawns.
I find the hardest part of cooking fish is getting good quality fish. I adore cooking seafood though. I'm like Aquaman, but I can only talk to the fish after they have been killed and as they are cooking.

the beer revolu

cjdun1 wrote: »

into the English Market in Cork like so for a daycent bit of real fish - thanks for the responses

Alas, the fish there is expensive.
If you ever find yourself in Carrigaline, then go to the outlet shop of the Good Fish Processing Factory - in an industrial estate on the Crosshaven road.
Way cheaper than the market. Fish is much fresher. Service is friendly. And and the origin of every fish is clearly marked.

I don't buy fish anywhere else.

admiralofthefleet

Des wrote: »

My brother used to work on the fish counter in a supermarket, and reckons Coley is fairly similar.

Cod is classed as an Exotic fish nowadays. Which is what makes it so expensive.

yeah coley is mainly used as a cod substitute, i would say upwards of 90% of 'cod' sold is coley

cozmik

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

yeah coley is mainly used as a cod substitute, i would say upwards of 90% of 'cod' sold is coley

sold where?

CJhaughey

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

yeah coley is mainly used as a cod substitute, i would say upwards of 90% of 'cod' sold is coley

And IMO you would be talking sheisse, Coley isn't even the same colour as Cod.
Coley = grey
Cod = white.
White Pollack = white
Maybe if you are buying smoked fish or more correctly the orange dyed, salted, and smoked flavoured stuff that is passed off as smoked fish.
Then you might be buying coley instead of cod
Coley is Black Pollack
White Pollack is much closer to Cod.

cozmik

cjdun1 wrote: »

Hi,

I went to buy Cod in Dunnes today - Donegal Catch - cod fillets €8 for 4 pieces - so can anyone tell me what tastes like cod, but doesn't cost the earth! I don't want anything that's breaded though.

Aldi sell natural cod fillets and they are much cheaper than Donegal Catch, €4.40 for 500g

Saruman

Honey-ec wrote: »

Hoki, coley or mahi mahi.

Mahi Mahi? It does not seem a very cod like fish to me. Too meaty like Tuna.. which of course makes it far superior to Cod. Unless of couse you got something called mahi mahi but was actually something else. Johny foxes does a good Mahi mahi.

Why do you want something that tastes like Cod? It has about as much flavour as water

If you want to replace Cod, well others have given the obvious answers like Hoki and Whiting etc... How about some Tilapia? Thats a very nice white fish that has started to appear in Tesco. I have had it many times in the US and its lovely.

cozmik

Saruman wrote: »

How about some Tilapia? Thats a very nice white fish that has started to appear in Tesco. I have had it many times in the US and its lovely.

That might be one to avoid.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708092228.htm

CJhaughey

FFS! if you listened and tried to obey all the contradictory, scaremongering, stories about food you would starve in short order, what next?
Bread is dangerous because of acrylimides, Eating Tilapia can give you a bigger chance of a heart-attack?
who are those researchers trying to cod?:D

Saruman

cozmik wrote: »

That might be one to avoid.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708092228.htm

Thats interesting.... I have Ulcerative colitis (autoimmune disease) and i had a flare up a few weeks back for the first time in 5 years. In the months before i had been eating Tilapia a few times... however not in any quantity that should cause a problem. More likely it was 2 weeks of Weetabix with milk (not a fan of milk).

Still its something to think about, not Tilapia as such but the omega 6 connection.