Lingcod and Rockfish are different fish, but they're close enough in the kitchen to stand in for one another.
Hexagrammidae
Lingcod
Lingcod is neither a ling nor a cod. Ophiodon elongatus is a greenling — a big-headed, heavily toothed ambush predator of the rocky North Pacific coast, from Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska — and the name is a nineteenth-century settler's guess that stuck. It is one of the best white fish on that coast and barely known off it. The flesh is dense and large-flaked, firmer and more forgiving than cod, holding its shape in a hot pan or on a grill where cod would collapse, and it is the standard fish of Pacific Northwest fish and chips. Its oddest feature is the colour: perhaps a fifth of the fish caught have flesh that is a startling blue-green, a harmless pigment called biliverdin that comes from the diet and cooks out to pure white. Buyers should know that the same market name is used for entirely different fish elsewhere — in Britain and Scandinavia, ling means Molva molva, a genuine cod relative from the Atlantic — so a recipe calling for lingcod outside North America almost certainly means something else.
Full guide →Sebastidae
Rockfish
Rockfish is the market name for roughly seventy species of the genus Sebastes, the dominant nearshore catch of the US Pacific coast from California to Alaska. Colors range from the bright orange-red of yelloweye and canary rockfish to the mottled browns and blacks of gopher and blue rockfish, but all share the same kitchen behavior: lean, white, medium-firm flesh in small flaky sheets, mild enough to take almost any treatment. It is the default fish-taco and fish-and-chips fish of the West Coast, and it holds together in a stew better than cod. Buyers should know two things. First, Pacific rockfish is very often sold in the United States as "Pacific red snapper" or "Pacific snapper" — it is not a snapper, and the substitution is restricted under California law. Second, "rockfish" means something else entirely in the Chesapeake Bay and Mid-Atlantic, where it is the local name for striped bass, an unrelated fish. Across the Atlantic the same genus is a mainstay under different names: Rotbarsch is one of Germany's most familiar frozen fillets, cantarilho is standard in Portugal, and the deep-water Sebastes norvegicus is sold in Britain as redfish or ocean perch.
Full guide →The two mainstays of a Pacific Northwest fish counter, often side by side and interchangeable in most recipes. Rockfish flakes small and cooks fast at plate size; lingcod comes in thicker portions and stands up to a grill.
| Country | Lingcod | Rockfish |
|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Lingcod | Rockfish |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | — | Redfish |
| 🇫🇷France | — | Sébaste |
| 🇪🇸Spain | — | Gallineta |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | — | Cantarilho |
| 🇮🇹Italy | — | Scorfano di Norvegia |
| 🇩🇪Germany | — | Rotbarsch |
$175.00–$425.00 · Free US shipping (except Hawaii) · Alaska Gold Seafood
A firm white fillet that holds together on the grill
- ·Wild Ophiodon elongatus — a greenling, not a cod
- ·Dense, large-flaked white fillets
- ·Boneless portions, vacuum-sealed and frozen
- ·5, 10 or 20 lb box
Alaska Lingcod Portions
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