Haddock or Cod? Know Your Scrod
Colored-pencil drawings of haddock (top, 2022) and Atlantic cod (bottom, 2022) by Mike Palmer.
“Waiter - I’ll have the baked scrod” And with those words uttered from restaurant to restaurant across the Commonwealth and beyond, the confusion began. Scrod isn’t a fish. Wait, what?
Well, it’s a fish - but it’s not a species of fish. There are no scrod swimming around in the sea. You see, the term ‘scrod’ refers to small small white fish, most commonly cod or haddock. There are several stories on the origins of the term, but word on the street is that it originated from the menus of the Parker House in Boston. They were buying their fish from fishing vessels targeting groundfish on Georges Bank and beyond, and the the freshest, most recently caught fish were at the top of the hold. These were the fish that the Parker House and other restaurants wanted to market to their customers. Depending on the trip, these fish could either be cod or haddock and since the restaurants couldn’t predict which fish it would be, they coined the term ‘scrod’ to cover their bases.
Can you tell the difference between haddock or cod?
When it’s on your plate, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference - well, unless it’s riddled with worms - then it’s probably cod, but that’s a story for another day.
Swimming in the sea, or at the end of your hook, haddock and cod are easy to tell apart. Haddock are greyish in color with a notable dark blotch above their pectoral fin known as the “devil’s thumbprint”. Cod, conversely have a brownish olive and yellow coloration. The lateral line on haddock is dark in color compared to the white skin around the lateral line in cod. Other visual differences include the first dorsal fin which has a prominent point on haddock, but is much rounder on cod. The cod has a long barbel on its chin, though that of the haddock is small and tough to see. One other easy to distinguish characteristics is that the haddock has a forked tail.
Now you have the rest of the story and you can eat your scrod stress free knowing that you don’t really know what kind of fish that is between your lips. These days, it’s probably a haddock. With regional cod populations at historic lows and the haddock population at historic highs, there are plenty of haddock in our local seas.
If you’d like to purchase a ‘Know Your Scrod’ poster, please visit our merchandise store here.
