Pan Seared Whiting. Photo by Lisa Goell Sinicki.
I’ve seen whiting and Atlantic pollock at the fish market, and I’ve considered buying them numerous times. But I’ve never bitten. They look like good dining, but what do you do with them? I wonder. Then I gravitate to the familiar territory of salmon, cod and haddock.
Thanks to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Underutilized Steering Team, a group of Maine chefs, restaurants and fishermen are creating a program that will identify under-used fish species and promote them to consumers. The first five species on the list are mackerel, redfish, Atlantic Pollock, northern shrimp and the afore-mentioned whiting.
The goal for the program is to relieve some of the demand for over-fished species while creating new markets for fishermen. The Steering Team will reach out to restaurants to encourage them to add these species to their menus and will also make recipes using the fish available for home chefs.
So just how do you prepare whiting? Chef Mitchell Kaldrovich of Sea Glass restaurant suggests pan seared and served over quinoa drizzled in citrus pan sauce—the dish he prepared for The Ultimate Seafood Splash, part of the annual Harvest on the Harbor event held at the Portland Waterfront.
Other chefs demonstrating how to put these species on the plate at the event included Cassady Pappas of Havana South, Sam Hayward of Fore Street, Adam White of The Salt Exchange, and Michael Ruoss—who grew up in Maine and now owns Salu restaurant in New Orleans.
If you missed the event and would like to try the recipes, Gulf of Maine Research Institute has made them available here.
