Fish Face Seafood Blog | Discover why monkfish is marvellous

Last updated: 14 October, 2024 @ 10:59

Once much maligned, the marvellous (if somewhat unfortunate-looking) monkfish is now hugely popular and features on the menus of restaurants up and down the country.

However, this versatile fish shouldn’t be solely enjoyed by professional chefs and their diners, it’s a great species for the home cook too,

What is monkfish?

Two species of monkfish are landed to UK ports – the white monkfish (Lophious piscatorius) and the black bellied monkfish (Lophius budegassa).

Both species are strikingly similar in appearance – so much so that they’re commonly sold under the single name ‘monkfish’.

Both fish live in deep water, lying in wait, literally luring unsuspecting prey toward their cavernous mouths with a modified dorsal fin-ray equipped with a small fish-like tip.

Monkfish may not be a looker, but it’s a deviously clever thing.

If you really want to tell which monkfish you have then the clue is in the name – with one having a black ‘belly’ and the other white.

However, you might be hampered in your detective work as the majority of monkfish sold in the UK is the tail section only, which is a real shame as monkfish cheeks – of the fish’s admittedly horrendous-looking head – make for supreme eating.

Has monkfish always been popular?

Surprisingly, given its firm, meaty, moist, well-flavoured flesh and relative ease with which it’s prepared, monkfish has only risen in popularity (and price unfortunately) relatively recently.

Writing in 1973, the distinguished food writer Jane Grigson says that ‘the great fish apart – by which I mean sole, lobster, turbot, eel – my own favourite both to cook and eat is monkfish. Its beautiful, sweet flavour and succulent firmness of flesh have led some writers to compare it with lobster – not really fair, I think, to either, but it gives a hint of the monkfish’s virtues’.

Jane Grigson goes on to note that although a ‘fair weight is landed in Britain each year… monkfish was not always easy to buy until recent years’.

Meanwhile, a little over a decade later, Keith Floyd, in the masterful Floyd on Fish, notes of the fish’s growing popularity – and mistreatment.

‘From being despised as false scampi a few years ago, monkfish has shot from obscurity and now features on menus across the country in a green peppercorn sauce, which is just as unfair since, to my mind, as it is generally indifferently cooked, it turns out to be a pretty grim dish’.

Five reasons why monkish is marvellous

Versatility. Monkfish is a versatile fish when it comes to cooking. It’s great baked, and delicious in hearty dishes like fishermen’s stew or even a hot curry.
No bones! Well, there’s one central bone running down the tail of the monkfish which is easy to remove (and is perfect for fish stock) – but apart from that, the tail is bone-free.
Firm texture. The texture of monkfish is firmer than most other fish, making it easier to cook than some other, more delicate species.
Easy to prepare. Monkfish is easy to fillet, as Duncan from Passionate About Fish demonstrates in this handy YouTube clip.
It takes strong flavours. Monkfish on its own isn’t a particularly fantastic tasting fish – being slightly sweet, but unremarkable. However, owing to its firm texture, monkfish can tolerate some powerful flavour combinations, including lots of garlic, chilli and a whole host of spices.

Top three monkish recipes

Naming only three monkfish recipes proved challenging, but after much discussion we finally got there.

The Fish Face Seafood Blog top three monkfish recipes are:

Monkfish roasted with 50 cloves of garlic, olives and basil. The late, great Keith Floyd makes a fantastic version of this recipe, but this one from Rockfish is pretty special too.
The classic and beautiful looking Gigot de Lotte – roast monkfish in the fashion of a leg of lamb is a wonderful dish – and is ideal for those looking for something different for Christmas lunch.
Our final choice was tough. Rick Stein’s cioppino (fish stew) came close, but in the end, we went with Atul Kochhar’s monkfish curry.