Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

hake is the name originally given to Merluccius merluccius, a member of the cod family which ranges from the Mediterranean to Norway.

The N. American species M. bilinearis is silver hake. Two members of the genus Urophycis in N. America also bear the name hake: U. tenuis, the white hake (or Boston ling), and U. chuss, the squirrel hake. They resemble the true hakes in having two dorsal fins and one anal fin and no barbel.

The mouth of the European hake is grey-black inside; that of the silver hake dark blue. The silver hake, in accordance with its name, has a silvery iridescent sheen when freshly caught.