Alaska pollock as food

Compared with pollock, Alaska pollock has a milder taste, whiter color and lower oil content.

High-quality, single-frozen whole Alaska pollock fillets may be layered into a block mold and deep-frozen to produce fish blocks that are used throughout Europe and North America as the raw material for high-quality breaded and battered fish products. Lower-quality, double-frozen fillets or minced trim pieces may also be frozen in block forms and used as raw material for lower-quality, low-cost breaded and battered fish sticks and portions.

Single-frozen Alaska pollock is the preferred raw material for surimi; the most common use of surimi in the United States is imitation crabmeat (also known as crab sticks).

Alaska pollock is commonly used in the fast food industry, in products such as McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich and (now-discontinued) Fish McBites,Arby's Classic Fish sandwich,Long John Silver's Baja Fish Taco, and Birds Eye's Fish Fingers in Crispy Batter.

In Korea, Alaska pollock is considered the "national fish". The Korean name of the fish, myeongtae(명태), has also spread to some neighbouring countries: It is called mintay(минтай) in Russia, and its roe is called mentaiko(明太子) in Japan although the Japanese name for the fish itself is suketōdara(介党鱈).

In Korea, myeongtae is called by thirty-odd names including:

Koreans have been enjoying Alaska pollock since the Joseon era. One of the earliest mentions are from Seungjeongwon ilgi (Journal of the Royal Secretariat), where a 1652 entry stated: "The management administration should be strictly interrogated for bringing in pollock roe instead of cod roe." Alaska pollock were the most commonly caught fish in Korea in 1940, when more than 270,000 tonnes were caught from the East Sea. The current annual consumption of Alaska pollock in South Korea is estimated to be about 260,000 tonnes in 2016. Nowadays, however, Alaska pollock consumption in South Korea relies heavily on imports from Russia, due to the rise in sea water temperatures.

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Wikipedia