With pressure on many of the gadoid (cod-type) stocks around the country and heightened awareness to source responsibly and sustainably, it’s really no surprise that fishmongers, merchants and their customers look for suitable white-fish alternatives that can be sourced seasonally and represent good value for consumers.
Although I’m a huge fan of the super-abundant whiting, in southern and western waters, Pollack abound, and provide a very useful catch opportunity for the inshore fleets from Weymouth to Wales. Streamlined, graceful with a green/gold lustre and bulging oversized cod-eyes for detecting prey amongst the kelp beds, these beautiful fish are now, much loved by chefs and home cooks alike. I find they lack the intensity of cod or haddock and perhaps the sweetness of whiting or pouting, but fresh out of the water they can be absolutely delicious and even smoke quite well too, but their shelf-life is perhaps not as enduring as their historically used cousins.

I’ve caught them in Mounts Bay just off Penzance using two methods - netting where ‘short-soak’ nets are set for a few hours and line caught, using a board which dives an artificial sandeel lure amongst the ravenous schools hooking them individually, to ensure the fish are absolutely in top condition for sale.

Down in Cornwall in the late winter and early spring months the pollack feed inshore in the colder winter water, on sandeels , sprats, sardines, small mackerel , crabs and prawns and in fact anything that fits in their rather gargantuan gape.

They are more than suited to coating in batter and aside from frying the whole fillet, I like to skin them and goujon them into bite size pieces and serve as you would the whiting in my tempura recipe, albeit with a beer-based batter in this case. Very moreish and a great alternative if you fancy a change. However you won’t find these beauties in your local supermarket as they're not generally a species that lends itself to fresh or chilled counter sales. Don’t be fooled though, you will indeed see Pollock on sale, mainly in frozen form. This is generally imported Alaskan or Southern Hemisphere product and although an important commercial species, won’t help you support the UK inshore fillets to whom the Pollack is a seasonal and welcome catch opportunity.

Pollack Goujons with a Tomato and Fennel Salsa

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Two fresh, skinned, Cornish pollack fillets.

150g plain flour

150ml light beer (bitter/lager)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Lemon wedges.

Sunflower or rapeseed oil for frying

For the Salsa

1 fennel bulb, sliced

4 large tomatoes

Splash white wine vinegar

50ml good olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp caster sugar

Sea salt

Black pepper

Method

Cut the pollack fillets into bite-size goujons and dredge with the seasoned flour and shake off any excess.. Put aside. Heat the oil to 180 degrees in a suitable frying pan.

Make the batter by sifting the flour into a bowl and whisking in the beer to a smooth, but not runny, consistency. Put aside.

Combine the salsa ingredients and drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice and toss. Place the goons in the batter coating liberally and introduce individually to the hot oil, taking care to keep them from stocking to the pan. Fry them for 2 mins on either side until, the batter is crisp and golden and the goujons are stiff enough to be stacked together.

Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen roll. Serve immediately the salsa and some homemade mayonnaise or tartare sauce (see Whiting Tempura).