Working for a Seafood Wholesaler in Southerm Mass for 22 years, I had seen alot of things that consumers as well as some restaurants are not aware of. From time to time the product you buy is not always what it appears to be. For Instance Cod fillets could actually be Haddock fillets and visa versa.

The prices vary according to the Auction prices, which takes place very early in the day, prices depend on the daily catch brought in from fishing boats to the fishing ports such as New Bedford Mass. If only a little Haddock was caught the domestic prices go up.
Although there is a large quantity of haddock imported from Iceland on a reg basis as well, where prices usually hover around the same, but there is the time of storms and such events that make those prices climb rapidly also. I would like to also mention that alot of fish comes from Canada as well. Many restaurants prefer fish fillets from Iceland and Canada, for a well known fact, the colder the water the firmer the fish.

Now the same goes for Cod, little brought in domestically the prices climb. The fact is prices fluctuate. Fish fillets are marketed in different sizes, large which could be 32oz and up, markets which usually 12-32oz, and scrod which is under 12 oz. The price of scrod sized fillets is always the cheapest, and markets is almost always more than large fillets. Some places prefer large fillets because they can be cut into sections almost as steaks and are easier to portion. Overall market sized fillets is usually the most prefered, and the most available.

The United States has size restrictions on fish so the populations can keep growing which is obviously a good thing. But in cases of Canada, there is no size restrictions unless there is one now, but I have seen fish fillets as small as an ounce or two, and that is a real shame.

Another point of interest is Fish fillets nick named "Pacific" or sometimes "Alaskan". Have you ever bought a fish fillet and it seemed almost rubbery? The process the seafood industry uses has improved over the years, but the fact is: The fish was frozen! The fish caught in alaska is flash frozen whole on the ships and packaged usually in 50 lbs bags. That fish is transported to freezer storage areas around the country. When the fish is needed it is put into large vats with a solution of Sodium Tripoly Phosphate, and thawed out. The process is not to enlarge the fish, only to thaw them. Once it is thawed it is filleted and skinned, then distributed to other wholesalers.
Some places actually sell these fillets as "Fresh" but actually have been thawed. Many consumers do not know this, and I have seen some restaurants do not even know either. Do not get the impression that the fillets are bad, the quality is fine, just sold under a misrepresentation of what it really is. I would like to mention the fact that there are also those places that prefer the "Pacific" fillets for cooking purposes. I would also like to point out that not all "Alaskan" fish fillets are frozen, there is plenty of fresh around also. But the frozen fillets known as "Pacific" is alot cheaper to buy for the wholesalers that fresh fillets are.

Up until this point I had been writing about skinless fillets, both Cod and Haddock look so simular it is really hard to tell the difference. My opinion is that Haddock usually has a slight silverish membrane partially covering the fillets. Cod has usually very little. Cod fillets might have a slight reddish tint to them, where Haddock usually does not. Being so hard to tell the difference I had seen that some customers actually bought haddock fillets with the skin on. Cod and Haddock are very distinquishable when you can actually see the skin. Haddock's skin is almost like a silvery bluish with an black line going down the length of the fillet, which is very prominent. Cod's skin is usually more brown than anything else, it's darker line blends in more with the rest of the skin, but still noticeable.

Now there are those restaurants that want only haddock but if not much is around the prices are extremely high and wholesalers will not buy large quantitys. There is that customer though that says thats all they use, I have seen many cases where Cod fillets were shipped as haddock fillets. The quailty of the product is fine, but it is simply not what the customer ordered. The fact is Alot of people cannot tell the difference, I have seen that many chefs cannot tell either.

Another advantage of Haddock is that it usually does not have worms, where almost all Cod has some to an abundance. Seafood processors candle (process name for deworming) the fillets before they are shipped. Sometimes you might see a couple slip by. Might not sound to appealing, but not dangerous if the fish is not eaten raw with them. It is a natural occurance that Cod has worm parasites in them. Actually alot of different species of fish have the same worm in them. The reason haddock does not, I am not sure. The actual name for the worms are "cod worms" which are parasites. For more information on this subject go here: http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5951e/x5951e01.htm


Bob Boulris
http://alonewolf.biz/nucleus/Seafood.php