Vital statistics
Farmed: no
Minimum size: 40-50cm Omega-3 count: medium Fishing method: midwater trawl Catch range: Alaska pollock span from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska
Allow us to introduce you to the ‘billion-dollar fish’. He’s pleased to meet you, but the likelihood is that you will have met before. Relatively unheard of a generation ago, pollock is now in your sushi, in your supermarkets and on your plate. Its ubiquity in America and Canada has made it the most lucrative catch in the world, with an annual value of over a billion dollars in the States alone. The humble pollock is making waves and is a fish you’ll be seeing more of in the years to come.
The Alaska pollock, or Theragra chalcogramma, also goes by the moniker of Pacific pollock, Pacific tomcod, bigeye cod or walleye pollock, and is a distant relative of the Atlantic pollock. It’s the largest fish-for-food resource on Earth – a catch of over 1.3million tonnes – and is now used in everyday favourites such as fish fingers and is on menus worldwide.
They can weigh as little as 450g and can also grow into 20kg monsters. Maturing at around the age of three, the fish live for 15 years on average and their preferred habitat is in the wild around rocks in waters up to 300m deep.
For many, Alaska pollock is the besttasting and most versatile species of pollock for the dinner table. They’re perfectly sustainable, though trawling with industrial-size fishing ships has resulted in by-catch problems so to be on the safe side, look out for Alaska pollock from the fisheries that display the industry assured MSC Blue Tick logo.
An often-underrated white fish, pollock is as versatile as cod. It’s better value, more sustainable and just as tasty. In Scotland it is common to fry young pollock coated with oatmeal or even to poach them in seawater. When a bit older, the thick fillets, with their firm and tightly knitted flakes, pair well with robust flavours such as chorizo, cherry tomatoes, curry spices and fresh herbs, and can also make a substantial filling for fish pies and fishcakes. At Kitty Fisher’s restaurant in Mayfair, head chef George Barson dishes up pollock with leeks, anchovy butter and mussels, while superb fish cook Pascal Proyart serves his with a globetrotting combination of celeriac, kohlrabi, dashi (Chinese stock), lemon and Pommery mustard at his Knightsbridge restaurant, One-O-One. As you’ll see with these accompanying recipes, it can be fried, baked, battered and stewed and maintains its brilliant white hue whatever cooking process you choose to apply.
As well as being one of the most sustainable fish in the ocean, it’s also one of the most nutritious. Like an elite athlete, it swims thousands of miles in the wild, creating a lean fish with minimal layers of fat running between the flakes.