Hake is a slender, soft-fleshed marine fish of the cod family, prized for delicate, sweet, snow-white flakes that are looser and more tender than cod. The European hake (Merluccius merluccius) ranges along the Atlantic coast of Europe and North Africa and into the Mediterranean, where as merluza in Spanish and pescada or merluza in Portuguese it is one of the most loved of all table fish — baked, fried in batter, griddled as steaks, or simmered with clams in the great Basque dish merluza en salsa verde, hake in green sauce. Mild, low in fat and gently flaky, it is the fish that much of southern Europe reaches for first.