Hake, once called “trash fish,’’ because few people wanted it, may be the last bargain in the seafood case. “Yesterday’s trash fish may be tomorrow’s food fish,’’ says Mark Szymanski, assistant biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Carl Fantasia of New Deal Fish Market in East Cambridge sees a lot of hake when he goes to buy fish at the wholesale houses.
“I recommend it quite often to people who are looking for a white, flaky alternative to cod or halibut,’’ says Fantasia. Gavin Egbert, seafood coordinator for the North Atlantic Region for Whole Foods Markets, says that hake has not been ranked by the Blue Ocean Institute, a scientific organization that collects data. No one is really certain whether there are sufficient stocks of this locally caught, sweet, white fish so that you can buy it guilt free. Egbert still considers hake “one of the most value-focused items in the case.’’
All of the popular New England white fish — cod, halibut, haddock, pollock, and hake — are splendid when sauteed, simmered in liquid, even deep-fat fried. Send them into a hot oven, however, and they dry out.
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