Monk fish

billyfieldman, Jul 16, 4:10am
The price has gone up to $19/kg now.

jean246, Jul 19, 4:30am
The monkfish we get down here in Otago is very large fillets

eastie3, Jul 19, 5:01am
Same here in Wellington. I've always thought of it as a 'meaty' fish which holds together when cooked.

reggienz, Oct 22, 2:41am
Can some one please tell me how to prepare a monkfish for cooking, What parts do you eat?

245sam, Oct 22, 2:50am
reggienz, have a look at:-

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/lifestyle-entertainment/lifestyle/at-the-table/4863537/Poor-mans-lobster

Hope that helps - I think you'll find some useful info' on that link. :-))

davidt4, Oct 22, 4:03am
Thanks 245sam, that article has solved something that has been puzzling me for a long time. The monkfish in NZ is a different fish! That explains why it is so disappointing.

I sometimes use monkfish in a curry but otherwise find it a bit watery and fibrous, without much flavour, and it has baffled me why it is so highly prized in Europe. Now I know.

beaker59, Oct 22, 8:54pm
I was always told chefs like monkfish as it takes flavours well and can be cooked in many ways without falling apart. Our best fish in NZ really can't be played around with so I can see how that would appeal to a chef.

Poor mans lobster (from the article posted above), to me poor mans crayfish will always be "granddaddy's Hapuka" the ugly red spiny things sometimes caught on deep reefs, if you are very careful not to be spiked by the spines and remove the tiny fillets then they do taste allot like crayfish with a similar texture.

gbking, Oct 23, 7:14am
I get quite a few of the estuarine monkfish when floundering, not as big as the ones you can buy but very tasty, great in chowder cause they stay together or I often just wrap the fillets in tin foil with lemon juice, salt and a sprig of parsley, 10-15 minutes later, done. They are a really underrated fish, possibly cos they are so ugly.
http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=59885

beaker59, Oct 23, 11:42pm
Well you learn something new every day :)

Never seen one of those before looks a bit like a flathead OH how I wish we had those here. Or some nice KG Whiting or even sand whiting.

socram, Mar 1, 5:45pm
We buy a lot of fresh filleted monkfish, (which means we never see its ugly face anyway!) and always at less than $12 a kilo, fantastic value, but the fillets are usually so small that much of what you see on the UK cooking programmes for example isn't relevant. You don't get those lovely thick fillets.

I use it a lot in stir fries but our favourite is having it the night after a takeaway butter chicken curry and a chicken tikka masala, using up the left over curry sauces! Only takes a few minutes.

Totally underrated, but please don't tell everyone or there won't be any left and the price will sky-rocket.