Cod species, 90% of cooks do not know!
Cod, known worldwide for its delicate meat and rich protein, also sells a variety of COD in the market, such as Alaska cod, cod, bighead fish, big head fishes, Mingtai fish and so on. These names are well known. But which of them are pure cod, which are close relatives of cod, and which are only names with the word "cod" in fact not related to cod? In this issue, we will answer questions for chef friends and introduce various common cod one by one.
If you define the scope of classification to the cod shape category, there are 708 species belonging to 162 genera and 162 genera in 11 families of 4 suborders in the COD family, but we will only discuss fish in several common families and confusing "fake cod".
Real cod fish
According to strict academic classification, real cod should refer to cod family cod fish, commonly known as real cod. There are only three species of pure or real cod, namely Atlantic cod, Pacific COD and Greenland cod.
Atlantic Cod
Atlantic cod is known as "King of cod" and "King of white meat". Its maxillary protuberance, prominent mandibular tentacles, curved lateral line at the pectoral fin, less than 1/3 of the total length of the anterior region of the back, 1/5 of the body height, body color is changeable. The color of the back and upper part of the body gradually changes from brown to green or gray, the abdomen fades to gray white, and the peritoneum is silver. Atlantic cod, native to the cold waters of the North Atlantic, is one of the largest annual catch of fish in the world and a food fish of high economic value.
Atlantic cod meat is white and tender, thick and spineless. It is suitable for frying, steaming, boiling, stewing and other cooking methods. However, due to overfishing, the catch of Atlantic cod has decreased by 70% since 1970, which indicates that Atlantic cod has become an endangered species.
Gadus macrocephalus
The Pacific cod, commonly known as Bighead Fish and Bighead Fish, is similar in appearance and meat quality to Atlantic cod, but generally smaller than Atlantic cod.
Because the Pacific coastal countries such as China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and so on require high taste of fish, it is difficult for fish with light meat like Pacific cod to become the hot selling fish in these countries.
China's Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea are also the origin of Pacific cod, and the annual catch is not small, but coastal residents pay little attention to it. The market price is generally more than ten yuan a kilogram, even cheaper than many "fake cod". So most Pacific COD are made into frozen fish fillets and exported to foreign markets.
Greenland cod
Greenland cod is mainly found in the waters around the coastline of Greenland and is rarely found in other waters. Due to limited distribution, the production of genuine COD in Greenland is extremely limited. It seldom appears in the market and is extremely difficult to buy. And Greenland cod is much smaller than Atlantic cod, so no one usually catches Greenland cod exclusively.
It may be difficult to identify these three species of cod, but it's not difficult to distinguish them from other fish at all - these three species of real COD are big heads, big mouths, fat bellies, with obvious side lines on their sides, most notably a beard on their chin.
Alaska Pollock
In recent years, it has been found that Alaskan pollock, formerly of the genus Pollock, is genetically closer to the COD family. Therefore, in 2015, the American Fisheries Association officially classified Alaskan Pollock as the COD family, that is to say, pure cod ushered in the fourth member.
Alaska pollock, also known as yellow-line Pollock and white-eyed pollock, commonly known as "Prince Ming", is mainly distributed in Hainan, Japan. The cod has a long body, flattened posterior side, smaller eye interval than eye diameter, large mouth, lower chin whiskers equal to about 1/2 of the pupil, thick lower gill cap and posterior spoon bones, olive-colored dorsal body, silver ventral side, and longitudinal dark macula on both sides. Dorsal and pectoral fins are dark olive, buttocks and pelvic fins are gray. Unlike the three species of COD mentioned above, the anterior mandible of Alaska cod is longer than the upper jaw.
Alaska Pollock Processing Products.
Most Alaska cod fillets are used to make fish nuggets, which are then processed into fried fish products wrapped in flour and butter. Large fast food chains such as McDonald's and Burger King use Alaska COD as fried fish nuggets. Unprocessed fish nuggets are sold as single frozen products.