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Breaking Down a Turbot
Appears in
By William Lander, Shaun Searley and Daniel Morgenthau
Published 2019
Turbot is the most delicate of all fish and as such requires delicacy in its preparation. Don’t be put off by the granular level of detail supplied here to get you to your delicious fish supper. It’s not as complicated as it looks, and it is absolutely worth it. Make sure you have a pair of very sharp scissors for this.
- Fill your sink with cold water, ice and a handful of salt. Give the turbot a good rinse in the sink, then dry thoroughly with kitchen paper and place on a large chopping board.
- Use sharp scissors to remove all the fins. Cut out the gills.
- To remove the head and collar, angle the fish so the weight of the head is hanging off the chopping board slightly. Start cutting 1cm above the eyes and follow the natural shape of the head, sticking closely to the head bone as you go round. You are cutting through small bones, so expect some crunching. When you get to where the pectoral fin once was, turn the knife at a right angle and cut straight down towards the bottom of the fish. This keeps the head and collar as one, meaning there’s lots of meat to be had. Separate the head and collar. Remove the liver (the deep pink/red organ found behind the back of the head) by delicately scraping it out with a knife.
- Cut through the flesh to the bone 1cm from the lateral line (the horizontal line along the spine). Starting at the caudal (back) fin, break through the side bones of the spine (the main spine bone is too hard), 1–2cm at a time. Don’t be afraid to apply quite a lot of pressure. As you get closer to the head end, you may need to increase to 3cm either side of the spine, as it gets much thicker. Repeat this process on the other side and you will be left with head, spine, top and bottom in 4 separate parts, all with delicious possibilities.
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