Foil-Packet Baked Haddock
New England fish-house haddock, moved from a casserole dish to a foil packet over coals.
- calories
- 470
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 63
- protein
- 36 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Haddock or cod fillets | 1.5 lbs | four 6 oz pieces; frozen solid at packing, thawed by dinner |
|---|---|---|
| Plain breadcrumbs | 1 cup | buttery crackers crushed in the bag also work, with less butter |
| Salted butter | 6 tbsp | melted; a stick keeps fine in a cooler |
| Kosher salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Lemon | 1 | cut into wedges |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | fresh if you brought it |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals, or get the grill grate hot over a steady bed. Flames will scorch the crumbs before the fish cooks.
- Melt the butter in your pot at the edge of the fire. Stir in the breadcrumbs and parsley until the crumbs are evenly damp and hold together loosely.
- Tear four sheets of heavy foil, about a foot each. Lay a fillet on each, salt and pepper it, and pack a quarter of the crumb mixture on top in an even layer.
- Fold the foil into a flat packet with a sealed seam on top. Leave a little headroom so the crumbs are not pressed into the fish.
- Set the packets on the grate or directly on raked coals for 12 to 15 minutes. The fish is done when it flakes with light pressure through the foil.
- Open a packet away from your face, steam first. Squeeze lemon over and eat out of the foil.
Baked haddock is a fish-house standard: butter, crumbs, heat, nothing else. That is a casserole dish in a home oven, so the change here is foil. A sealed packet traps the fish’s own moisture and steams it while the coals brown the top, which gets you the same result without an oven or a pan to scrub.
The butter is not a garnish. Lean white fish dries out fast over live fire, and the fat in the crumb layer is what keeps the top from turning to sand. Use less than six tablespoons and you will notice. This one needs a cooler and there is no way around it, so it is a first-or-second-night meal, not something you carry for a week.
Packing
Freeze the fillets solid and pack them at the bottom of the cooler against the ice. They will thaw over a day of driving and act as a cold block until then. Breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and parsley get combined into one small bag at home so camp is butter, bag, foil.
Variations
- A clove of garlic minced into the melted butter before the crumbs go in flavors the whole topping.
- Swap in gluten-free breadcrumbs; the method does not change.
- No fire ready? The same packets cook in a covered dutch oven with coals on the lid, about 20 minutes.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/new-england-baked-haddock-real-food-edition