Baked Cod With Buttery Cracker Topping

Growing up in Boston, I had no idea that cod could be served in any other way.

Memories of Friday night dinners in the 60’s and early 70’s. Mom only used frozen rectangles of flounder, but the buttered cracker crumbs, they were the real treat.

Fantastic - made the topping with crushed Club crackers and extra lemon zest. Choice of fish was Chilean Sea Bass, which elevated the whole thing - simply scrumptious with a salad and a glass of dry Riesling.

One more thing. I too had a lot of the cracker coating after baking. I gently pushed the excess off, leaving a light coating on the fish. I served the fish with the light coating. I stored the excess in a container and reheated it, and served it on some steamed vegetables. The excess coating protected the fish and left it moist and delicate. You don't have to serve all of the coating. It's simple. Use your judgment.

Panko also works very well here!

I did it with two half pound flounder filets. It worked quite well. Instead of garlic powder I uses Finley minced garlic and finely mined green onion instead of onion powder. And lots of butter.

My grandmother's and my mother's recipe was similar. Put fillets in bowl with one or two beaten eggs and a little milk. Remove fish from bowl. Crush one sleeve Ritz (has to be this brand) crackers and press fish into crushed crackers so both sides are covered. Sauté in butter on both sides until crust is golden and fish is done, it won't take long. I grew up in Boston.

This was disappointing. The crackers didn't hold together, so in the end I had a salty piece of fish covered in a dry, uninspired, 1970s cracker topping. I should have known better. The Baked Cod with Crunchy Miso Butter Crumbs is much better, IMO.

Recommend also adding Celery Salt to the crumb mixture.

I used saltines instead of Ritz and it turned out great. An easy meal that the whole family really enjoyed.

This worked surprisingly well by replacing all the butter with olive oil. Usually, such a drastic change doesn't work out but it was excellent. Anyone expecting the butter flavor would find it lacking but all I had was a dim distant memory of Friday night fish. I wasn't disappointed! And my husband who finds white fish bland gave it 5 stars.

My husband loved this dish. We are vegetarian but occasionally have fish or seafood, so we gave this a try using haddock. It was a lovely dinner and the topping held up great. I prepared per the recipe with no changes and served with baked butternut squash and lemony rice. Simple, fast, and elegant.

I used saltines instead of Ritz as store was out of Ritz…saltines worked well and I think may have been even better than Ritz as they gave a bit more texture. I did not have chives so used a full cup of finely chopped parsley with 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil. I think that the increased herb quantity definitely added to the flavor. Otherwise followed recipe as written. We had really fresh cod from our local market and fresh lemons from our tree. Delicious! Everyone loved this classic dish.

This is just so easy and delicious. I have made it 2-3 times now. Nothing to say other than just follow the recipe and you will be very happy.

In the words of Eric Kim, "The muskier dried versions of these alliums aren’t redundant; they lend fortification to the savory structure that only onion and garlic can build." So sometimes, powder has a different effect than fresh - even if it comes from the same source.