the cod cheeks guide

by brendan on September 19, 2006

yes – it’s the name of this “blog”, yet there is little to no mention of what a cod cheek is, or how to cook it. i was looking at some of the log files for the site (yes, i know this makes me a geek) and noticed that a good chunk of people where arriving here from various search engines after entering searches on how to cook cod cheeks. i think it’s only fair to actualy have some info on cod cheeks on a blog named after the little fish nuggets of goodness.

so here’s the skinny, cod cheeks are. . . .cheeks from a cod. i know, sort of anti-climactic. i don’t see them at the market very often in san francisco, but when i do, i buy them, and most fish mongers will order them for you. they are considered a delicacy, and are quite tasty. surprisingly, there isn’t a lot out there about them, but i did run across this article from the pittsburgh post-gazette that gives a pretty good description and history, but when you get right down to it, they are still the cheeks from a cod, plain and simple.

so how do you cook these little guys? pretty much anyway you want – the closest thing i can compare them to is a scallop, so if you have a great scallop recipe, you can substitute cod cheeks, and be in good shape. i’ve also done some poking around and found some good recipes that i’ll list below with some thoughts. hopefully, if you’re looking for a way to prepare your cod cheeks, this will help to begin to quench your thirst for knowledge – there are thousands of recipes out there, and this is just a taste. also, if you run across a recipe not listed here and want to share it, send it my way – it just wouldn’t be right for a food blog named after cod cheeks not to be the ultimate resource, would it?

and finally, for those of you who just returned from a long day of cod fishing, and just want to know how to get those little buggers out of the fish, this was the best i could find.

ok, writing about these things has given me a pretty big craving. . . next step is to make all these recipes in the cod cheeks test kitchen. . .stay tuned.

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