Is Pollock a Saltwater Fish? The Answer Explained Once and for All

Pollock is what we commonly call cod, and it can be found everywhere. In fact, pollock is a fish greatly loved by the Korean people, so is pollock a saltwater fish?

1. Is Pollock a Saltwater Fish?

Pollock is a cold-water demersal saltwater fish found in the nearshore waters of the northern North Pacific. Also known as walleye pollock, it is mainly distributed along the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and north of central western Honshu, Japan, the Sea of Japan, the Tatar Strait, the periphery of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, to central California in the United States, as well as the northern North Pacific and the eastern Yellow Sea (very rare). It is a food fish loved by the Korean people, and after being salted it is called “mentaiko”.

2. How Is Pollock Eaten?

Pollock has always been a traditional food that the Korean people love to eat. On every Qingming Festival, every Korean family eats pollock. In Northeast China, many people in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province eat it. In the Yanbian area of Jilin, in winter many families wash pollock, remove the innards, and then hang them outside to freeze-dry. The moisture in the fish meat is dried out through sublimation, and the meat becomes strip-like; tear off a strip, put it in your mouth and chew, and the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes. From the air-dried fish, tear off the skin, wrap special rice in the intact fish skin, steam it in a pot, and once cooked, dip it in sauce and eat it for an endless aftertaste. This is the legendary fish-skin-wrapped rice, also a specialty of Yanbian.

3. Precautions for Eating Pollock

1. Wash away the blood and grime inside the belly. If you do not want to remove the fish head, you can split it open from the center and wash it clean, and score crosshatch cuts on both sides of the fish body so it absorbs flavor better.

2. After scoring the fish body with crosshatch cuts, marinate it with cooking wine, salt, scallion and ginger for 30 minutes to remove the fishy smell.

3. Because the fish meat is fairly firm, the cooking time should be a bit longer, generally no less than half an hour. When cooking, you can add one red chili pepper, then add other seasonings, which can make the fish meat fresh, fragrant and delicious.

Pollock is divided into several types according to how it is prepared. Fresh is called “saengtae”, frozen is called “dongtae”, and gutted and directly sun-dried is called “geontae”. Geontae is extremely hard, so the way to eat it is quite tough: it needs to be pounded with an iron hammer until loose before it can be eaten, just like hazelnuts with pliers, both in the rough-and-ready style. What drinkers love most is hwangtae, which has been repeatedly dried day and night for a month. Its color is bright yellow and its meat is crisp and loose yet quite chewy; tear off a piece, dip it in some fiery chili powder and put it in your mouth, like setting off a firecracker in your mouth. After a brief dizzy spell, the flavor lingers on and on, then wash it down with a big mouthful of beer.

There are quite a few ways to eat pollock, and it can be seen in many places in the country. If conditions allow, you can buy some to try, and the taste is very good.