Hoki substitutes

Effectively the same product from a different ocean - the standard frozen white fish of fish fingers worldwide.

Best for

battered fish, crumbed fillets, fish fingers, fish cakes, chowder, fish pie

Same softness, same mildness, same tendency to hold water, and the same small fine flakes. Anyone who cannot tell hoki from cod certainly cannot tell hoki from pollock. It is usually the cheapest option on the shelf and it is available almost everywhere, which is exactly why frozen-food manufacturers use the two interchangeably. No change to timing.

The other cheap frozen white fillet - soft and wet like hoki, and a little sweeter.

Best for

battered fish, crumbed fillets, curries, stir-fries, baked fish with a sauce

Basa is at least as soft as hoki and holds even more water, so the drying and salting step is not optional here - press the thawed fillets between paper towels, salt for 15 minutes, and pat dry again. It is slightly sweeter and can taste faintly flat or muddy on its own, so it is best inside batter or under a sauce rather than plainly grilled.

Firmer and drier than hoki, which makes it worse for battering and better for baking.

Best for

baked fish, crumbed fillets, fish tacos, grilling, curries

Because tilapia holds together better, it survives a hot oven and a grill where hoki would break up, and it does not weep liquid into a baking dish. In batter it eats slightly meatier and less tender than hoki. The flavour is mild but can carry an earthy note depending on the farm; lemon or lime fixes it. Fillets are thicker, so allow an extra 2-4 minutes.

The upgrade - firmer, sweeter and in much larger flakes, at roughly double the price.

Best for

fish and chips, battered fish, baked fish, fish pie, chowder

This is what a hoki fish supper is aspiring to be. The flakes are big and moist rather than fine and soft, and the flavour is cleaner and sweeter. Fillets are considerably thicker, so add 3-5 minutes and drop the frying oil slightly - around 350F (175C) - so the batter is not dark before the middle is hot. Hake is the softest of the three and closest to hoki.

Small, delicate and sweet - a very good crumbed fish and a poor one for anything stirred or grilled.

Best for

crumbed fillets, shallow frying, fish fingers, fish cakes

Whiting is thinner and more fragile than hoki with a slightly sweeter flavour, so it cooks a couple of minutes faster and needs a light crumb rather than a heavy batter. In Australia it is the traditional crumbed fish and is generally considered a step up from hoki. Handle it once and turn it with a wide spatula.

The other fish Australian and New Zealand recipes name for the same jobs - firmer and more substantial than hoki.

Best for

battered fish, baked fish, curries, pies, chowder

Firmer, meatier and more expensive than hoki, so it holds up in a curry or a pie where hoki would collapse into the sauce. Be careful with the name: ling in Britain means a lean cod relative, while ling in Australia can mean cobia, a dense oily fish - if the fillet you are holding is thick and dense rather than soft and white, treat it as a firm fish and shorten the cooking time.

Not a species but a product - the honest answer if hoki was going into fish fingers or a family fish pie.

Best for

fish fingers, fish pie, fish cakes, oven-baked breaded fish

These blocks are usually pollock or hoki anyway, pressed and frozen, so for a crumbed or battered application they are the same thing at a lower price. They shed a lot of water as they cook, so bake them on a rack or a preheated tray rather than in a dish, and do not use them anywhere the fish is meant to arrive as an intact fillet.