# What kind of fish does Long John Silver serve **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475 "2005-04-03T02:11:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/1 "2005-04-03T02:11:58Z")
What kind of fish is their batter dipped fish? Is it cod? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/2 "2005-04-03T02:23:48Z")
I don’t believe it is always the same type of fish across time and place. Their website just lists it as fried fish. Types of generic fish to fry would include cod as well as other fish like haddock. It may even be a combination of fish in each stick. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/3 "2005-04-03T02:24:40Z")
Scrod? Halibut? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/4 "2005-04-03T02:28:42Z")
They advertised “North Atlantic cod” on the TV just a few minutes ago. Seems right, given the texture. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/5 "2005-04-03T03:27:54Z")
[Silverfish!](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://home.messiah.edu/~weiand/bugs/pics/Silverfish.jpg&imgrefurl=http://home.messiah.edu/~weiand/bugs/Bugs4.htm&h=613&w=346&sz=31&tbnid=dbFJa1oxs78J:&tbnh=133&tbnw=75&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsilverfish%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/6 "2005-04-03T03:30:00Z")
[http://www.dotcom.ca/infomart/Secret%20Chef/htm/271.htm](http://www.dotcom.ca/infomart/Secret%20Chef/htm/271.htm) This says cod too. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/7 "2005-04-03T03:44:00Z")
When I worked there 23 years ago, it was “Icelandic Cod”, at least that was what the manager told me. **squeegee** , my family used to say either “Let’s get some Silver fish”, or let’s go to “Silver Long John’s”, which sounds like something astonauts wear. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/8 "2005-04-03T03:47:38Z")
I still say its not always battered cod. If you look at [their nutrition calculator](http://www.yum.com/nutrition/menu.asp) it just lists it as “battered fish” even though the item right below it is “baked cod”. They are obviously giving themselves an out when they don’t specify the exact fish used. They may use cod some or most of the time but it appears that they don’t want to commit to always using it. The copycat recipes on the web however do specify cod. That doesn’t mean the LJS’s always uses it though. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/9 "2005-04-03T06:34:32Z")
Cod is the most plentiful fish out there, so much of LJS fish is cod. However, the rules are somewhat flexible. There are several general-purpose white-fleshed bland fish in the sea. Pollock and hake, for example, are reasonable substitutes for cod. There is a longer list, including grunt and squirrel fish, but I don’t have it in my pocket just now. Remember, though, that a batter-dipped cod piece and a codpiece are two radically different things. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/10 "2005-04-03T06:36:07Z")
Lots of carrrrrrrrrrrrrp. ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/11 "2005-04-03T14:23:17Z")
Coney Island Whitefish? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/12 "2005-04-03T14:51:13Z")
Grunt fish? Wow, that’s a new one! Do they…well, do they actually grunt? ---
**Author:** ![Kuizelemartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19b73/32.png) [@Kuizelemartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuizelemartz)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/13 "2005-04-03T15:41:05Z")
Ha, yes, grunt fish grunt. The ones in the Gulf of Mexico do. But I didn’t know people ate those. We toss them back after grunting back at them a bit. Unfortunately, I catch lots of these and not as much grouper. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/14 "2005-04-03T15:57:38Z")
Grunting fish! I love it! I would have called them hog fish, but I guess that’s taken. ---
**Author:** ![Kuizelemartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19b73/32.png) [@Kuizelemartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuizelemartz)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/15 "2005-04-03T16:00:45Z")
You’ll be happy to know we also do have Hog fish in the Gulf. But you can’t catch them with a fishing pole and hook. They have teeny little mouths. You gotta put on scuba gear and take a spear fishing gun and shoot them guys. They taste real good. And the Hog fish don’t grunt. Husband shoots them, I eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/16 "2005-04-03T18:22:37Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Grunt fish? Wow, that’s a new one! Do they…well, do they actually grunt? Only when they play tennis. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/17 "2005-04-04T01:37:47Z")
> [@mike1dog](#): > > Coney Island Whitefish? Dammit, the second I saw the thread title I knew I _had_\* to tss this one in, but you beat me to it by a mile… ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/18 "2005-04-04T05:43:36Z")
Carp meat is more expensive than cod, (there is no commercial carp-fishing industry,) so you won’t see it at LJS. American catfish will grunt when caught, but the grunt fish is a saltwater critter. The largest fish in my limited fishing experience was a grunt, caught in Tampa Bay, Florida. The fellow assisting us said, “them’s good eatin’,” but we were in a borrowed condo, so we declined taking it home. It was probably on ice, or a plate, at Walt’s Fish Market that evening. At the time, I didn’t have the faintest idea how to clean or cook a fish. I have learned a lot since then. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/19 "2005-04-04T10:22:16Z")
Gaaarfish. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475/20 "2005-04-04T13:22:58Z")
Here is my favorite Gar recipe: Clean the Gar, heavily season it, place it on a 2" x4" (not treated!), cook at low heat for 27 hours, throw the fish away and eat the 2’ x 4’. LJS fish is Cod (I’ve cut 37 assloads of it). Unclviny [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-fish-does-long-john-silver-serve/297475.md?page=2)