What to do with a whole haddock

[Fat Guy]

Let's say an 8-pound day-boat haddock (gutted, head off, but otherwise intact) from Chatham, MA, USA, shows up at your home and you need to cook it for dinner.

Suggestions?

(Edited to add: I'm in an apartment so no smoking, and I don't have a poaching vessel large enough for this fish)

[Gastro888]

Rinse. Pat dry. Hack fish into individual portions. Season with salt and white pepper. Get water chestnut flour (or AP flour), dredge and deep fry. Remove and deep dry some minced garlic until light brown. In another pan/wok, heat up a bit of oil and stir fry some garlic, jalapenos and scallions for a minute. Add fish, stir fry for another minute, remove & top with fried garlic and add'l S&P if necessary.

This is if you have the necessary ventilation. If you don't, just steam it with soy sauce, ginger, scallion and sesame oil.

[Emily_R]

Lucky you!! What about cooking it in a salt-crust? Never done it, but have heard good things...

[Fat Guy]

I'd really like to avoid cutting it up. I think it will be more special to cook and serve it whole. I imagine that means it will have to be cooked in the oven somehow.

Salt crust sounds interesting. We did it once in a cooking class in France but I don't actually remember how to do it anymore. I'm just wondering if haddock is going to be flattered by that preparation. It's such a delicate, subtle fish that maybe en papillote is the way to go.

[rlibkind]

Despite your aversion to cutting it up I think such a fish deserves Bergen fish soup. Or a New England style fish stew or chowder. It's an absolutely perfect winter fish dish. Too bad you don't have the head, though.

[Gastro888]

I'd really like to avoid cutting it up. I think it will be more special to cook and serve it whole...

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At 8 pounds, that's a doozy for a NYC apartment. Wow! I'd suggest doing a squirrel fish but that's going to be hard unless you have a really big wok.

[Fat Guy]

It's kind of big -- I'm rearranging the refrigerator as we speak -- but I have the same 30"-size range that most Americans have. The oven accommodates a 30-pound turkey so it should be able to accommodate an 8-pound fish, right?

[markk]

Now I'm having trouble picturing it. How long is it?

Would you be able to jury-rig the means to steam it on a platter with soy sauce, ginger, and scallions? Perhaps get two stockpots boiling, put the platter on top of them, and tent the whole mechanism in silver foil?

[Gastro888]

How about doing the steaming thing in the oven with a roasting pan instead? You could try this:

Set the oven on 250. Arrange the cleaned fish on a large platter stuffed & topped with scallions, ginger, soy sauce and sesame seed oil. Find a flat rack that accomdated the platter inside a big roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan 1/3 of way with boiling water. Place rack in the pan loosely cover everything with foil and stick it in the oven to "steam".

[budrichard]

Years ago, haddock is what you ate if you couldn't afford cod. It used to be one of the main constituents of Fish Sticks when they were still made in Maine.

It is a beautiful fish for a chowder or fish soup, and except for the head you have all the ingrediants. Fillet out the flesh. chop up the bones and make a fume/stock with your aromatics for a fish soup. For a chowder, one can use potatoes or anything that suits your fancy. You can range from a low fat version with skim milk to a luxurious version with cream/milk mixture. The addition of a little saffron at the end will take the dish into the haute cusine realm. I don't think i have ever cooked a haddock whole, much preferring a chowder or soup. -Dick

[slkinsey]

Yea, haddock is the poor man's cod. Personally, I wouldn't be too locked into cooking it whole. And, unless you've got 6 friends coming over, a fair bit of it will go to waste anyway if you cook it whole. What about taking off the fillets, cooking the fat part of the fillets (poached would be great), and saving the thin parts for chowder, which you could make tomorrow using the rack and trim to make a broth.

[tristar]

Fillet, batter and deep fry, place together with double fried chips (english version of french fries), place into a nest of greaseproof paper in newspaper, lashings of salt and vinegar and you will have that Scottish classic "Fish Supper". for the real effect has to be eaten whilst walking down the street after quite a few pints of beer though!

[Adam Balic]

As a fresh fish I think that cooking it in portions is maybe a better way to go, although I can understand that it more impressive to keep it together. Often it called poor mans cod, but as prefered over cod in many places (very North of England, Scotland), which have ready access to both species. For a fish that thick I really think that you are better of taking off the fillets and the flavour is dramatically improved by pre-salting.

I'm pretty sure a salt crust will not work very well, the skin and scales are very fine and while pre-salting is an improvement, I think that a salt crust will make the fish over salty.

If it was my fish I would fillet it and do a few different things with it. Home salting it the style of salt cod or a gravlax is possible and with the former there are lots of options like brandade etc. I know that you have said no smoking, but this is a very traditional (Arbroath Smokies or Finnan Haddies very famous) way of preparing the fish and it quite delicious. A very short smoking period in a large pot or wok will not make a mess and it means that the dish can be prepared well a head of time. Presalted and lightly smoked fish would be good in a "chowder" style dish and you could leave the salt-pork/bacon out.

It also combines well with bay leaves and is suitable for a lot of asian style dishes, steamed with ginger, mushrooms and ham especially.

It is an underrated fish and no doubt will get the kind of recognition that cod does now (once the fishery goes into decline a little more), so enjoy.

[HungryChris]

I have to count myself in the deconstruct camp. I would have fish and chips with one fillet and make a saffron infused fish chowder using the frame and the other side. It's a fine dilemma you have on your hands no matter which way you go.

Please let us know what happened.

HC

[Fat Guy]

In the end I decided to cook it whole, en papillote. Unfortunately, after devoting much attention to deciding on an approach, and after clearing off the bottom shelf of my refrigerator, the guy who was supposed to drop off the haddock called to say the road conditions (congestion, slush) made it impossible for him to get to me yesterday. There will likely be an opportunity for a repeat one of these days, though.