Desperately Seeking Chicken Haddies
A staple of my Gran's kitchen when I was a child, Chicken Haddies (unbelievably I found a graphic of the product she favoured, below) was boneless haddock meat wrapped in wax paper then canned (a process unique in my experience.)
She was raised in Southern Ontario but spent decades of her life in mining camps in Ontario, Québec, and Newfoundland. My question is, is anyone aware if Chicken Haddies are still sold anywhere? An internet search finds references to several canneries in Atlantic Canada but the companies have no internet presence.
Please help, Chicken Haddies made the best chowder EVER!
Best Answer
Here's a link to a page where you can get them shipped from, or find the nearest store:
It sounds like the term "chicken" means the same thing in PEI for haddock ('haddie')as it does in Maine for lobsters, that is, small. (Minimum size lobsters are sometimes referred to as "chickens" or "chix")
Pictures about "Desperately Seeking Chicken Haddies"
A Day in the Snow and Chicken Haddie for Lunch
More answers regarding desperately Seeking Chicken Haddies
Answer 2
Apparently the chicken haddie plant had fire damage and we have not been able to buy it for over a year now in New Brunswick, Canada. I too grew up with it for making the best fish cakes. Anyway, the plant is up and running again as of January 2012 and I've been buying at Sobeys.
Answer 3
As I child I, too, had chowder made with canned fish - but my parents called it Finnan Haddies, not Chicken Haddies. Finnan Haddies still exist - they are a name for smoked haddock. Maybe they used the name they knew from Britain to refer to the Ontario canned product. These days I make the chowder with canned tuna, but perhaps you could try getting smoked haddock?
Answer 4
The OCI plant in St. Lawrence, NL still makes it. Whether you can buy directly from them or not I don't know.
Answer 5
Wow! Talking about dating yourself, I worked for Connors Bros in the later seventies as a quality manager testing Chicken Haddies , I got here because I was completing some information and was struggling to remember if Chicken Haddies was a mixture of cod and haddock. Connors Bros , Black Harour still are in business but I think Chicken Haddies was dropped in the late 80's. You are right it was packed in parchment and autoclaved and was prone to blackening which we called "smut" and which is related to sulpur in the meat protein. I would say call Connors and ask for a recipe they would still have it and they are great people. Yes it does make a great chowder.
Good luck
Answer 6
you can get it at superstore OceanChoice makes it from Newfoundland Babineau's chicken Haddie
Answer 7
They just started selling it again, at the Fisherman's Market it Halifax.
Answer 8
Babineaus Chicken Haddies is for sale again at Sobeys stores. I just brought two cans today, it is made by Babineaus Fisheries in PEI. We boil and mash potatoes add diced onion and Chicken Haddie mash it all together and pan fry it or make fish cakes.
Answer 9
I got some in Winnipeg, at the Gimli Fish Market. The brand was Babineau chicken haddie. It cost 7.99 per can.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Rachel Claire, Sharath G., ZI’s Food&NatureArt, Christina Voinova