Lingcod substitute

Substitutes for Lingcod with ratios

1. 2Pacific cod, Atlantic cod or haddock

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight

   The widely available default: right flavor, softer and wetter texture.

   What changes

   Best for

   fish and chips, battered fish, baked fish, fish tacos, chowder

   Cod flakes into slightly smaller, looser pieces than lingcod and carries more water, so a taco filling can go mushy and a battered piece can slump. Two fixes: salt the fillets for 20 minutes and pat them dry before coating, and cut them into thicker pieces than you would lingcod. Haddock is a shade sweeter and finer. Both cost less and are far easier to find.

2. 3Grouper or snapper

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by weight

   Firm enough to grill and slightly more flavorful than lingcod, and a genuine like-for-like swap.

   What changes

   Best for

   grilling, fish tacos, blackened fish, sandwiches, stews

   Grouper is the closest thing the Gulf and Atlantic coasts have to lingcod: dense, large-flaked and mild with a faint sweetness. Snapper is firmer, thinner-filleted and has a more distinct savory flavor that will come through a mild sauce. Both hold together on a grill grate better than cod does, so they are good choices where the fish is not protected by batter.

3. 4Monkfish

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by weight

   Firmer than lingcod and sweeter, and excellent where you want the fish to stay in solid pieces.

   What changes

   Best for

   stews and cioppino, skewers, curries, roasting, searing

   Monkfish is dense and slightly chewy, closer to lobster tail than to flaky white fish, so a monkfish taco eats meatier and a monkfish stew keeps its chunks perfectly intact. It is sweeter than lingcod and boneless, with only a central cartilage. Give it longer than you expect, 8 to 12 minutes for a thick piece, because it does not signal doneness by flaking.

4. 5Rockfish or Pacific snapper

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight

   The West Coast fallback, sold in every market that sells lingcod, and much cheaper.

   What changes

   Best for

   fish and chips, fish tacos, breaded fillets, sandwiches, chowder

   Rockfish fillets are thinner and more delicate than lingcod, with a finer flake and a slightly sweeter flavor. That makes them very good breaded or battered and less good on a grill or stirred into a stew, where they break up. Because the fillets are thinner, cut 2-3 minutes off the cooking time and check early.

5. 6Mahi-mahi

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by weight

   Firm, meaty and grill-friendly, with a fuller flavor and a drier finish than lingcod.

   What changes

   Best for

   grilling, fish tacos, blackening, skewers

   Mahi is the most reliably firm option in a lot of markets and it never falls apart on a grill, which makes it a strong taco fish. It is denser and slightly more assertive than lingcod, and it dries out if you take it past just-done, so oil it well and pull it at 5-6 minutes for a 1-inch piece. Sold frozen almost everywhere, which is often a practical advantage.

6. 7Sablefish or black cod (avoid for this)

   Taste and texture differ

   Not recommended as a swap

   Often suggested because of the name, but it is a rich oily fish and will not do lingcod's job.

   What changes

   Best for

   miso-marinated and broiled fish, smoking, roasting

   Sablefish is buttery, high in fat and soft, with small silky flakes, superb in its own right and completely wrong in fish and chips or a taco, where it turns greasy and falls apart. Anything called cod is worth double-checking: Pacific cod, lingcod and black cod are three unrelated fish with three different textures. Use sablefish for a miso-glazed broiled fillet, not as a lingcod substitute.