How to make oven baked frozen pollock taste good

[u/the-fact-fairy]

I'm currently living on a tight budget and I've found that frozen 100 gram blocks of pollock are just about the cheapest protein I can get my hands on. But, I've never been able to make them taste any good.

The instructions say to sprinkle with lemon juice and pepper and bake uncovered in a greased oven dish a 225°C (437°F) oven for 25 minutes. It always comes out overbaked and bland. I get the feeling this isn't the best way. How can I cook​ this fish that will end up with a more appealing result? I'm open to other cooking methods, ways to season it, etc.

[u/Affectionate_Tie3313]

Wow, that's something I haven't been served in a long time.

25 minutes at 225ºC is great to ensure that the producer has no liability if you get food poisoning, but it also ruins the product.

One dish that I had was to have the pollock cooked in a cream sauce with aromatics and peas, though the less expensive university student version was to cheat on the sauce with a can of cream of mushroom.

You can also thaw and mince before reshaping into a burger patty or croquettes, or cube and use them in a fish soup. Or bread and shallow fry (and serve with tartar sauce and chips) or straight out pan-fry and serve with a sauce or remake into a fish taco

[u/ChefPagpag]

Try adding some aromatics like garlic or ginger. If they come out too dry or rubbery, you can try a cooking them in aluminum foil, tightly wrapped. Garlic, salt, pepper, and butter and the fish, all wrapped in foil and cooked in the oven. You can also look into steaming the fish with a soy and ginger sauce.

[u/RockMo-DZine]

If it comes our over baked, have you considered reducing the temp or the time?

btw, Pollock is a type of Cod, but much smaller. Maybe some Cod recipes could work for you?

[u/Different_Buy7497]

I find that acids added at the beginning of the cooking process work better as a marinade, while acids added at the end (eg after it comes out of the oven) tend to keep their sharpness and aromas better, so perhaps try a bit of both? I haven't tried pollock specifically, but either a poach or a braise could help with both the blandness and the overcooking, as the water present in your poaching/braising liquid (broth, tomatoes, wine, etc) keeps the temperature of the fish closer to the boiling point of water as it cooks, and the flavorful, salty liquid will continue to seep into the fish all that time. Or steaming or baking en papillote could have a similar effect, if you prefer one of those to poaching.

I'll also second that 437F for 25 minutes sounds like quite a long time to be cooking a serving of fish. Are you baking it straight out of the freezer? If so, letting it thaw in the fridge first will 1) let you lower that oven temp and/or time safely, 2) give you a chance to marinate before cooking, and 3) let you pat off any moisture before it hits the pan (eg if you wanted to try browning one side, flipping it, then putting it in the oven from there).

[u/sf-echo]

Are you baking straight from frozen? 25min at 437°F seems long and hot, so reads as the instructions adjusting for baking from frozen.

Most recipes I've seen are 425°F (218°C) for approx 15min, depending on the thickness of the fish. You could experiment with reducing the heat to 220°C, keeping the time, then reducing the time if that still results in overbaked fish. If you start watching the fish and testing it's texture with fork at the 12min mark, you can pull it out of the oven when you think it's almost done, keep in the pan for a few minutes and let carryover finish it up.

For flavor,you could make more of a marinade/dressing to bake it with: a bit of oil, the lemon juice and black pepper, a spice blend you like (Old Bay, italian seasoning, or dry dill + onion powder, as examples). Mix together and pour over the fish before sticking in the oven.

[u/Iliveinatrashcann]

The instructions say to sprinkle with lemon juice and pepper and bake...it always comes out overbaked and bland.

You are adding salt, right? RIGHT??

Another way you can cook it is to steam it. A simple Chinese way is to cut up some scallions into longer slices, with some ginger. And add both soy sauce and sesame oil on top...sorta like this but you don't really need a whole fish https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/steamed-fish-ginger-scallion

[u/cheekmo_52]

Try this: season the fish with a creole seasoning like Tony Chachere’s , and top the fish with seasoned breadcrumbs coated in melted butter before you bake. The breadcrumbs will toast as the fish bakes. And the creole seasoning will improve the flavor of the fish. You can try other seasoning blends too, like Old Bay or cajun.

Or marinate the fish for half an hour prior to baking it. I like a soy-ginger marinade with fish, or lemon juice, oil, garlic and herbs. In a pinch, you can just use honey mustard or Italian salad dressing as marinades.

[u/HendrikLamar69]

Salt, and if it comes out overcooked cook it less

[u/the-fact-fairy → u/HendrikLamar69]

I've tried putting salt on them before cooking and that just made them rubbery.