Bottom side
Pull off skin
Follow the bones
Fillets
Remove membranes
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Monkfish is highly sought after for the unique characteristics of it's
flesh. It somewhat resembles lobster in flavor and stays firm
and solid even if overcooked. This makes it excellent for grilling on
skewers because it won't crumble and fall off. It is a costly fish, tails
selling for $6.00/# in Korean groceries here - I hate to think what they
might cost in gourmet specialty stores.
A 1.3 pound monkfish tail yielded 15 oz of clean flesh (72%). The bones,
skin, fins, membrains etc. make a very nice mild soup stock, but one fish
isn't going to make a whole lot of it so blend with other mild fish stock
if you need more.
Monkfish is very easy to process because most of the work has already
been done.
- Pull the skin off over the tail and cut off the tail.
- With your fillet knife follow the fins and heavy spine bone from top
to bottom being careful to take all the flesh.
- With the help of your fillet knife pull off all loose membranes, cutting
wherever they threaten to pull away any of the flesh. I'm not sure what those
two darker lumps up at the front are but I pull them off and toss them in the
stock pot with all the skin, membranes, bones, fins, etc.
- At this point you have two thick fillets. Most recipes will call for them
to be cut into chunks crosswise. Any remaining membranes will
shrink when cooked but cut this way they aren't a problem.
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