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PRIMARY SOURCE
Alaska, China, Russia.
SEASON
Alaska: Jan.-Feb., Aug.-Oct.
PRIMARY FISHING METHOD
Trawl.
DEFECTS
• Fillets with gray flesh color, skin specks, bones and parasites.
• Blood spots are a sign of bruising and mishandling.
• Spotty, uneven coating on breaded and battered products.
• White cottony appearance indicates freezer burn.
SELLING POINTS
• Very versatile, low-priced fish. Excellent in everything
from fish n’ chips to fish tacos.
• The best quality pollock is excellent for broiling and sautéing
and can be used as a substitute for flounder or sole—at a fraction
of the price.
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SCIENTIFIC NAME:
Theragra chalcogramma
MARKET NAME(S): Pollock, Alaska pollock, walleye pollock
SIZE RANGE: To 15 lbs., but typically less
than 2 lbs.
YIELD: Whole to H&G: 62%; Whole to skinless,
boneless fillets 25% (20% deep-skinned).
PRODUCT FORMS:
FRESH: skinless, boneless fillets.
FROZEN: Skinless, boneless fillets, graded 1/2, 2/4, 4/6 6/8 oz.
IQF, shatterpack and block. Surimi.
STORAGE & HANDLING: Frozen fillets held
at -5 to -15°F will last a year. Fresh fillets held in ice at
32°F will last seven days.
COOKING SUGGESTIONS
A lean, versatile fish, Alaska pollock is well-suited for poaching,
baking, steaming, sautéing, or deep-frying. As a result,
it can be served simply at a fish and chips shop or with a delicate
sauce in a white tablecloth restaurant.
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Think of Alaska pollock
as the fish that doesn’t get any respect. Almost everybody eats
it, but hardly anybody knows it. Pollock are the favorite fish of
fast-food fryers, which serve it up as fish n’ chips, fish sandwiches
and now even fish tacos. And, of course, pollock are the stuff of
surimi, the ubiquitous fish paste that is used to make “seafood
analogs,” the ersatz shellfish products that look and taste a
lot like the real thing— at a fraction of the price.
Alaska pollock is the largest food fish resource in the world. More
than 3 million tons of Alaska pollock are caught each year in the
North Pacific from Alaska to northern Japan.
Russia is the world’s largest pollock producer. Overfishing,
however, has reduced Russia’s annual pollock catch from more
than 4 million tons to less than 2 million tons. In Alaska, however,
pollock catches have been quite consistent at about 1.3 million tons
a year, almost all of it from the Bering Sea.
Alaska pollock can grow to 15 pounds or more, but most of the fish
caught commercially are less than 2 pounds, so most pollock fillets
are 2-4 ounces in size.
The pollock fishery in Alaska is managed using a unique system that
allows fishermen to form cooperatives and avoid the “Olympic-style”
race for fish. Under the Co-op system, boats are assigned an agreed
upon quota to fish at their discretion. As a result, they can fish
slower, which has increased their yields and improved their quality.
Be careful not to confuse Alaska pollock with Atlantic pollock (Pollachius
virens), which is fished throughout the North Atlantic. While both
fish are members of the extended cod family, Alaska pollock are smaller,
have noticeably whiter flesh and a lower oil content
The price of pollock varies widely, depending upon how it was processed.
The highest-priced pollock fillets are single-frozen, FAS, product
produced by Alaska and Russian factory trawlers. Next would be single-frozen
fillets processed by Alaska shore plants. Double-frozen pollock fillets,
most of which are processed in China, sell at a substantial discount,
sometimes as much as 40% less than FAS single-frozen fillets.
By taking advantage of its low labor costs, China has become the leading
supplier of groundfish fillets to the U.S., although hardly any of
this fish is caught by Chinese fishermen. Most of this production
comes from processing plants in northeastern China, which use H&G
Russian pollock as raw material.
Most pollock is processed into blocks for use as a raw material. Surimi
blocks are made by pressing pollock fillets through an extruder to
make a fish paste. Fillet blocks are made by placing small fillets
into a metal tray and freezing it in a plate freezer under hydraulic
pressure. |
