corned hake (slack salted hake)

here’s an old new england style slack-salted corned hake recipe that bill gerencer shared with us. bill is the buyer for our oldest (30 years) supplier, m. f. foley, in boston and new bedford. he was a commercial fisherman in his younger days and this is a dish he used to cook onboard his vessel (notice the canned cream corn from the galley’s pantry). thanks bill!

• 3 lbs. hake fillet
• kosher salt
• 5 large potatoes
• 1 can creamed corn (heated)
• 1 lb. diced salt pork (fried)
• 1 fresh onion and 1 large cucumber diced and marinated in white vinegar for 20 minutes

day 1
cover the bottom of a glass baking dish with about 1/4 inch of salt. lay the hake fillets on top of the salt. cover the hake fillets with another 1/4 inch of salt—lighter over the thinner parts of the fillet. place in the refrigerator over night.

day 2
remove from the refrigerator, drain off liquid and rinse fillets. cut and boil the potatoes. cut the hake into 5 oz chunks. in a separate pot, cover the hake with water and bring to a boil. once the hake starts to boil, remove from heat, drain and add to the potatoes and let boil for 2 more minutes. remove and drain. serve with creamed corn and marinated onions/cucumbers and add the salt pork on top. enjoy!