Monkfish

The night before Thanksgiving, Andrew and Lauren arrived from Koreatown with an unusual delicacy: monkfish.

I remember seeing this gruesome fish in Pike's Market in Seattle. It is known for having a taste and consistency similar to lobster.

It is a species of anglerfish with three long filaments coming out of the middle of the head.

The filaments are used as lures to attract other fish which the monkfish then swallows whole.

They have extremely large mouths and heads, compared to the rest of their body and their teeth are shark-like.

Andrew was using the monkfish as part of a very complicated dish that also involved crab and mussels. I'll bring out elements of that dish in another post, but in this one want to focus on the monkfish itself.

Andrew cleaned the fish and cut himself on the sharp teeth, drawing blood.

He cut the flesh away from the backbone,

thoroughly dried it, then sprinkled it with salt and curry to help draw water out of it.

Judy and I made some monkfish a month or so ago that ended up tasting quite mushy. I think we did not get enough water out of it. This monkfish was much better than that we'd cooked a while back.

I would not rate it in the same league as lobster, but can see that the texture and even the taste are somewhat similar. It can't be beat for looks.