Ingredient: Skate
Category: Fish
Season: All
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays . They are carnivorous, feeding mostly on smaller fish and crustaceans. They have flat pectoral fins continuous with their head, two dorsal fins and a short, spineless tail. There are more than 200 described species in 25 genera.
The common skate , Dipturus batis, is the largest found in British waters. It has a long, pointed snout. However, the most common skate in British seas is the thornback ray, Raja clavata. They are frequently caught by trawling.
Common skate and white skate are assessed as Critically Endangered by IUCN (World Conservation Union) and the fish is listed by the Marine Conservation Society as a "fish to avoid"
The skate wings are what we buy at the fishmonger, triangular in shape with a pinky flesh: if they are from a small fish they weigh about 8 oz (225 g) each, if from a large fish they are bought cut into pieces.
It is a delicious fish: the flesh parts so conveniently from the soft bones, which themselves stay intact, so there is little likelihood of finding any unwelcome, spiky bits of bone.
It is hard to beat just washed, well dried, given a light coating of flour, then fried in a mixture of butter and oil till crisp and golden; or else served with browned butter, which adds a lovely buttery flavour.
It used to be a common item in the Scottish Fish & Chip Shops (but seems to have disappeared from the menu).
A group of white fish belonging to the skate family , and often referred to rather misleadingly as rock salmon, are the dogfish, huss or flake. In fact they have nothing at all in common with salmon, actually are rather dull (if cheap) and need to be jazzed up a bit with other ingredients. |