page_title: Alaska pollock
section_title: Use as food in Korea
hierarchical_section_title: Alaska pollock / As food / Use as food in Korea
caption_attribution_description: English: hwangtae (Gadus chalcogrammus)
context_page_description: The Alaska pollock or walleye pollock is a marine fish species of the cod genus Gadus and family Gadidae. It is a semi-pelagic schooling fish widely distributed in the North Pacific, with largest concentrations found in the eastern Bering Sea.
context_section_description: Alaska pollock is considered the "national fish" of Korea. The Korean name of the fish, myeongtae (명태,明太), has also spread to some neighbouring countries: it is called mintay (минтай) in Russia and mintaj in Poland, and its roe is called mentaiko (明太子) in Japan, although the Japanese name for the fish itself is suketōdara (介党鱈). In Korea, myeongtae is called thirty-odd additional names, including saengtae (생태, fresh), dongtae (동태, frozen), bugeo (북어, dried), hwangtae (황태, dried in winter with repeated freezing and thawing), nogari (노가리, dried young), and kodari (코다리, half-dried young).
  Koreans have been enjoying Alaska pollock since the Joseon era. One of the earliest mentions is from Seungjeongwon ilgi (Journal of the Royal Secretariat), where a 1652 entry stated: "The management administration should be strictly interrogated for bringing in pollock roe instead of cod roe." Alaska pollocks were the most commonly caught fish in Korea in 1940, when more than 270,000 tonnes were caught from the Sea of Japan (East Sea). It outnumbers the current annual consumption of Alaska pollock in South Korea, estimated at about 260,000 tonnes in 2016. Nowadays, however, Alaska pollock consumption in South Korea rely heavily on import from Russia, due to rises in sea water temperatures.
caption: Drying hwangtae in winter
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