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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.)

chicken haddies

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!

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  • Are chicken haddies the same as finnan haddie? If so, there are lots of online purveyors available.
    – ESultanik
    Aug 18, 2011 at 17:19
  • I think there must be some difference, even though the fish chowder she made she referred to as "finnan haddie chowder".
    – Doug
    Aug 18, 2011 at 17:25
  • It seems that the shortage was temporary. You don't have to add other answers here, as the OP has obviously found enough sources.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Jun 5, 2012 at 21:27

9 Answers 9

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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.

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Here's a link to a page where you can get them shipped from, or find the nearest store:

http://www.powershopper.com/products/findneareststore.asp?companyid=13&partnumber=6712483&companies=13

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")

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  • I had found that page, but regardless of what data I enter in the search function, there is no result. I also tried to google "Babineau" without success.
    – Doug
    Aug 19, 2011 at 15:18
  • I'm sorry it didn't work, Doug. I tried! :)
    – Jennifer S
    Aug 19, 2011 at 19:14
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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?

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  • I checked @ESultanik's link, and I think the difference is that Chicken Haddies were definitely not smoked. The flesh came out of the wrapping with a brilliant white colour.
    – Doug
    Aug 18, 2011 at 18:01
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The OCI plant in St. Lawrence, NL still makes it. Whether you can buy directly from them or not I don't know.

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  • I just googled it and it seems the plant is on strike!
    – Doug
    Jan 18, 2012 at 17:37
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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

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  • Just reading these comments again, I must say thanks bro! I wasn't quite sure that I wasn't just imagining that wax paper. Still, I wonder what that was for.
    – Doug
    Mar 31, 2012 at 6:22
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you can get it at superstore OceanChoice makes it from Newfoundland Babineau's chicken Haddie

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They just started selling it again, at the Fisherman's Market it Halifax.

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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.

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  • Would you care to share your recipe wth the rest of us?
    – Doug
    Dec 8, 2018 at 8:55
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I got some in Winnipeg, at the Gimli Fish Market. The brand was Babineau chicken haddie. It cost 7.99 per can.

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