Gluten-Free Cod Cheeks and Dressing
Gluten-Free Cod Cheeks and Dressing - a safe version of a Newfoundland favourite! Cod cheeks are sweet, tender, & a fisherman delicacy!
Note: This recipe was first posted on my original blog, Celebration Generation, on September 7, 2020. It was transferred over to this blog on 3/16/2021
When the pandemic hit, the first major change we made was to our grocery shopping.
Not being able to go into the grocery store that first month or two, we had to give up on our weekly visit with our favourite fish monger*.
Weekly fish has been one of the benefits to moving back to Canada - back in Minneapolis, we had to make a trek out to a speciality fish shop to be able to get GOOD fish.
Here, it’s all good. We’re incredibly spoiled. Anyway...
We found a workaround pretty quickly, in the form of a CSF - Community Supported Fishery.
It’s like a CSF box, but you’re pre-ordering fish from small fishermen. Facebook had served up an ad for Skipper Otto, the idea of a CSF intrigued me, and we joined.
It’s been fantastic!
This last order window included cod cheeks as an option, and I JUMPED on it. I don’t often see fish cheeks available, so this was going to be a TREAT!
* We were recently reunited, after 5+ months! After the initial “OMGHOWAREYOUHAVEHAVEYOUBEENIVEBEENWORRIED!”, we caught up. It was a nice bit of normalcy!
... but then there was some customer anti-masker nonsense going down in that store the next two times I went in, so I’m back to ordering. We’ve exchanged email addresses now, though!
What are Cod Cheeks?
They’re literally... cod cheeks.
Well, meat from the part of the fish that would be considered a “cheek” by human standards, anyway - the meat just below the eye.
While fish cheeks may sound odd, they’re actually considered a delicacy by fishermen and chefs alike.
Cod, halibut, grouper, walleye - there are all kinds of fish cheeks available, when you can find them!
The meat is - IMHO - the best meat of the fish.
It’s tender, a little sweet... and sort of reminds me of scallops.. Giant, tasty, lovely scallops. Mmm!
There are several popular ways to make cod cheeks:
You can grill them, poach them, crust them with cornmeal and either fry or bake them. Basically, you can treat them like scallops OR like fish fillets/steaks.
Fishermen tend to season them, dredge them in flour, and pan fry them... which is how I was originally intending to serve this batch of cod cheeks, when I ordered them.
... but then I started thinking about the side(s) I was going to serve with it, my mind wandered to Newfoundland dressing.
I decided to give the cod cheeks a gluten-free batter and deep fry them. Kind of weird to work in reverse, deciding on the side and then designing the main around it, but whatever - I was going to make a Newfoundland style fried fish out of it!
Newfoundland Dressing
“Dressing” in Newfoundland is completely different from what I’d always known as the closest analog to it, growing up in Winnipeg: Stuffing.
Whereas we’d use torn or cut up bread chunks and usually season it with poultry seasoning, in Newfoundland you use actual bread crumbs, not chunks.
The primary seasoning for Newfoundland style dressing is summer savoury, not poultry seasoning.
Also, where we’d only have stuffing in conjunction with a roasted chicken or turkey - a holiday thing - “dressing” is an everyday thing in Newfoundland.
It’s commonly served with Sunday dinner (which is a *thing* there - a full, traditional roast dinner throughout the year, just on regular Sundays!), but it’s also commonly available as a side dish when ordering restaurant food.
“Fries Dressing and Gravy” is a super popular side item at fast food and fried fish places. It’s just fries and hot gravy, topped with Newfoundland style dressing.
So, when I decided on cooking up some cod cheeks, I decided to honour them properly, with a side of Newfoundland style dressing.
It took me RIGHT back to sitting in The Big R, usually after taking a nice long hike beside the ocean. *Happy sigh*
If you ever get the chance to go to Newfoundland, get ON it. That’s all I’m saying. I haven’t been back since our honeymoon in 2006, and - if I close my eyes - I can still smell the salty ocean air and feel the Cape Spear wind on my face.
It’s *heaven*.
Anyway.
Summer Savoury
I LOVE Summer Savoury. I’d never had it before going to Newfoundland a couple decades ago, but I quickly fell - hard - for it.
Somehow, despite having had no experience with it at all before that point, it just “tasted like Thanksgiving”.
Never mind that it tasted literally nothing like anything I’d ever had at Thanksgiving, mind you. Brains are weird sometimes.
Anyway, my favourite brand is Mt Scio Savoury, which is grown in Newfoundland.
I don’t know if they’re actually better than everything else out there, or if it’s another case of “this is the first I had, so it is my default”... but it IS noticeably different than the stuff I could get in the USA (Usually from Penzeys). I’d routinely get friends to bring some back with them, when returning to the USA from a trip home.
Savoury is something I usually measure by the handful, at least when I’m not doing a recipe up for the blogs. A handful in pea soup, a couple handfuls in chicken or turkey soup, a handful or so in a batch of gravy, toss another handful over roast poultry or pork... whatever.
It’s great stuff!
The Outcome
Oh, this was fantastic, The gluten-free batter was crispy and flavourful, without retaining too much grease. The cod cheeks were tender and lovely - definitely worth the wait to find them!
This was actually my husband’s first time having fish cheeks, he really liked how soft, tender, and mild it was - he was surprised at how right I was, describing it like a scallop.
More Canadian Recipes!
Looking for more recipes from the ‘great white north’? Look no further!
Chow Chow Relish
Gluten-Free Bacon Poutine Pizza
Gluten-Free Beaver Tail Recipe
Gluten Free Butter Tart Bars
Gluten-Free Butter Tarts
Gluten-Free Cod Au Gratin
Gluten-Free Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere
Gluten-Free Imperial Cookies Recipe
Gluten-Free Nanaimo Bar Brownies
Gluten-Free Puffed Rice Bars
Gluten-Free Schmoo Torte
Gluten-Free Tourtiere
Looking for even more Canadian recipes? Check out our full Gluten-Free Canadian Recipes list!
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Gluten-Free Cod Cheeks and Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Dressing:
- ½ loaf Gluten-free White bread
- ½ Medium yellow onion
- ¼ cup Butter
- 2 tablespoon Dried summer savoury
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- Chicken stock
Gluten-Free Cod Cheeks:
- Frying oil
- ½ cup Garbanzo / Chickpea Flour
- ½ cup White rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- pinch black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 large egg beaten
- ¾ cup gluten-free beer Or chicken broth
- 2 lbs cod cheeks
- ½ cup corn starch for dredging
Instructions
Gluten-Free Dressing:
- Tear the bread up into small pieces, then run through a food processor in batches until broken down into crumbs. Place into a large mixing bowl, set aside.
- Peel and finely chop onion. In a large pan, saute onion in butter until translucent.
- Remove onion from heat, add to mixing bowl along with the savoury.
- Gently stir until well combined, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Gluten-Free Cod Cheeks:
- Start heating your oil to 350F – you’ll want at least 2-3″ of oil in your pot or deep fryer.
- In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Add egg and beer, stir well to form a thick batter. Allow batter to sit for 15 minutes or so, to soften the flours.
- Gently dredge cod cheeks in corn starch, shaking excess flour back into the bowl.
- One piece at a time, dip into batter, allowing excess batter to drip back into bowl for a few seconds, before carefully transferring to heated oil.
- Fry for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through.
- Use a slotted metal spoon to transfer fried cod cheeks to paper towels. Allow oil to come back up to temperature between batches.
- Serve hot, with a side of dressing... and maybe some veggies, if you want to feel responsible! 🙂
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