Scrod

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Scrod or schrod () is any of various whitefish, typically filleted young cod or haddock, used as food.

In the wholesale fish business, scrod is the smallest weight category of the major white fish. From smallest to largest, the categories are: scrod, market, large, and whale. In the U.S., scrod haddock or cusk weighs 1.5-3 lbs.; scrod cod 1.5-2.5 lbs.; and scrod pollock 1.5-4 lbs. The exact weight categories are somewhat different in Canada.

Scrod is common in many coastal New England and Atlantic Canadian fish markets and restaurants, although using the name 'scrod' without the species is in principle mislabeling.

Video Scrod

Etymology

The term "scrod" is first attested in 1841. It may derive from the Dutch schrood, from Middle Dutch schrode 'a piece cut off', that is, cut up for drying or cooking. Another theory derives it from a Cornish English dialect word scraw, to 'split, salt, and dry'. The origin of the variant escrod is unclear.

Folklore

The term has been credited to chefs at Boston's Parker House Hotel, the originator of Boston cream pie and Parker House rolls.

The term has attracted a number of jocular and unlikely etymologies. One treats it as short for the "Sacred Cod" carving that hangs in the Boston State House." Various acronyms have been suggested, though acronyms were hardly ever used in the past: "seaman's catch received on deck," supposedly any whitefish of the day; for "small cod remaining on dock"; "select catch retrieved on [the] day."

Scrod was apparently often used to mean simply fresh fish of the day, since menus were made up before the day's catch was brought in.

Maps Scrod

Cuisine

Scrod by may be cooked in a variety of ways, including frying or broiling, after splitting; in February 1949, the Chicago Tribune (25 Feb., § ii, pp. 4, 6) describes scrod as "simply a tail piece of filleted haddock or cod dipped in oil, then bread crumbs and broiled in a moderate oven," and states it is served in this way in "famous Boston restaurants."

A recipe for "Broiled Scrod" in an 1851 cookbook calls for a split small cod, or the tail of a large one. The fish is salted and left overnight, then broiled, skin side down first.

As of the early years of the new millennium, scrod continues as a staple in many coastal New England and Atlantic Canadian fish markets and restaurants.

Boston Baked Scrod Stock Photo, Royalty Free Image: 88613380 - Alamy

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In literature and history

Seth Peterson, a boatman, fisherman, and friend Daniel Webster, described the 19th century orator and statesman (per biographer George Curtis) as having greatly enjoyed scrawed cod:

He loved codfish best--he liked to have them scrawed--to have them split open, corned a little over night, and broiled for breakfast. I've fixed him more than a thousand.

American humorist poet Ogden Nash voiced that "I lunch and sup on schrod and soup" in his 1949 collection, Versus (p. 54).

When spoken, "scrod" is a pun on the word "screwed," slang for sexual intercourse, and thus is the basis for many jokes, the simplest of which is, "I got scrod in Boston."

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References

Baked Scrod - popular dish in coastal New England and Atlantic ...