As someone who really loves to eat seafood and is also unapologetically nerdy about the particularities of marine life, friends and family often ask me questions about the intersection of these two obviously related topics. This is especially true during the wintry months when many people spend more time indoors focused on activities like cooking. I have written previously about the ability to continue to enjoy seafood throughout the year in Maine and how lucky we are to have a variety of locally caught fish, shellfish and crustaceans to enjoy. Many types of seafood continue to be harvested throughout the winter and others can be frozen or otherwise preserved past their fishing season. I am personally a big fan of pickled and tinned fish. But I do prefer fresh fish when it is available.
Just last week, I had the good fortune to try a delicious white fish dish at the recently opened Makers Gallery on Commercial Street in Portland. The storefront is part of the Experience Maine travel and event planning business. The fish was prepared over a puree of butternut squash in their open kitchen on a bright sunny day when the bay door of what was once a garage was wide open and the sea breeze was blowing in. The chef, Arianna Stefanilo, grew up in a fishing family on Chebeague Island and spent several summers sterning for a local captain, which means cooking local fish is natural for her. The white fish in the dish was not the more commonly served haddock, but was instead hake, a favorite of mine and also of many fishermen.
So, why doesn’t hake have the same lauded reputation as haddock? Is it all that different? The two fish live in similar habitats, both being a type of groundfish that live close to the “ground” or bottom of the ocean. They look fairly different, though. Hake have much narrower bodies as compared to haddock that have a more curved body shape. Hake are often called silver hake for a reason, their skin having a silvery-gray color throughout, whereas haddock have a dark gray back with an opalescent light colored belly. Hake also have a somewhat daunting looking jaw with large curved teeth that looks more sinister than the somehow more typically friendly fishy looking mouth of the haddock.
Physical differences aside, the issue in question is flavor. The flavor of haddock and hake are pretty similar, both being mild in flavor and flaky in texture. One difference, however, is that hake, in particular, can get a bad rap for being mushy. This isn’t because of its natural characteristics, but rather because of how delicate it is and thus how easily it can be bruised. Properly handed hake, however, is just as tender and delicious as haddock. Yet, even in a place like Maine where we have a healthy supply of fresh local fish, it isn’t at the top of most peoples’ list of what to buy or what to order.
This is not the case in other parts of the world. In Spain, for example, which has the highest consumption of hake worldwide, hake is considered the “king of the sea” and is often served with chorizo and potatoes. It is also popular in other parts of Europe including France, Italy and Portugal, and also in India where they incorporate it into curries or Thailand where it might be used in fish cakes. Many other parts of the world enjoy other species of hake, which there are 13 different species of, including Senegalese hake in West Africa and Gayi hake off the coast of South America. And on the other coast of the United States, Pacific hake, often called whiting, is commonly used in Surimi, or imitation crab meat.
In New England, hake is prepared in a variety of ways, many of them similar to haddock like broiled, steamed or baked. But one specialty here is corned hake. Hake doesn’t freeze as well as some other fish species, so it can be preserved by salting (or corning) much as many people might be getting ready to do with beef ahead of St. Patrick’s Day. Salting fish for preservation predated freezing for obvious reasons, but this particular recipe has hung on in popularity because of how well it works for hake. Essentially, you cover the filet with salt, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for two or three days. To make the traditional dish, you mash it with potatoes and crispy bits of fried salt pork. This requires rinsing the fish thoroughly and then boiling it along with potatoes. It can be served with sliced pickled onions. There are myriad variations on this dish that you can find in Maine cookbooks both new and old.
Or look for it fresh and discover how versatile and tasty this sustainable local option is – and how it might deserve a more lauded place among Maine’s seafood offerings.
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