Smoked Haddock alternative?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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One of our staples is Gordon Ramsay’s fish cake recipe, which has salmon and smoked haddock as its core (the caper anchovy dressing sets it off).

Lately Ive been having trouble getting smoked haddock. My last supplier has actually closed for family reasons. Of the supermarkets I frequent, one (the high end one!) never stocked it; on did erratically but has now stopped; and the one that did have it (the bright yellow kind I normally try to avoid) regularly has also stopped.

So Im wondering about alternates or work arounds. The recipe simmers the fish for 5 minutes in water. Im wondering about using fresh haddock and adding smoke essence to the simmering water. Or season the fresh haddock with smoked salt for x hours before cooking. Simply using fresh haddock unseasoned would dumb down the flavours. Plan B might be to buy a smoker, but that seems a bit of overkill. Plan C. Swap roles and use fresh haddock and smoked salmon (or more likely smoked trout). Plan D - start making crab cakes LOL.

Any and all ideas would be gratefully received. I will also check other food sources but Ive exhausted the ones nearby.

1 Like
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Not the same, but you might try smoked black cod (aka sable in Jewish delicatessens) or hot smoked/kippered salmon. I’m sure others will have better suggestions, but I’d go with smoked black cod.

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Smoke black cod is interesting suggestion. Not sure if it will be any easier to find but worth a try.

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Check with any of the Jewish delis in Toronto.

5

You can get frozen haddock filets all day at Whole Foods and then smoke them yourself! But cod is the natural replacement for haddock.

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I can get fresh haddock at all kinds of places. Was trying avoid smoking it myself (I don’t have a smoker to begin with).