The hardest species of the cold months

Dato:

5/11/2025

Full name

11 Jan 2022

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5 min read

Forget turbot and sunshine – now it’s the tough ones that rule. The monkfish strikes, the squid twists, and the haddock gleams in the dark. We’re celebrating winter’s wildest fish – because they taste damn good.

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Monkfish

First, let’s talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly…

It lies on the seabed, hidden from unsuspecting prey. Only the eyes are visible. The body is built for explosion — like a pit bull, ready to strike hard and fast. Deadly. With a small flap of skin at the tip of its fishing rod, it lures curious fish closer. And then… BANG! The jaws snap open with incredible force, creating a massive vacuum. The prey is sucked in and impaled on three rows of backward-facing teeth. Splash… blood! Panic… and then back to the seafloor again.

We’re talking about the monkfish.

We said it last month, and we’ll say it again: if you’re putting a gourmet fish on the menu this winter — make it monkfish.

In November, that’s even more important. There are almost no turbot or brill to be found, and the few that are available are mostly trawl-caught. So, to put it bluntly… Turbot and brill are going to be expensive, expensive, expensive — and silly.

Completely the opposite is true for monkfish. There will be plenty of beautiful, sustainably caught monkfish all through the winter — so go wild!

If you still want to use turbot, go for thawed or farmed fish. You’ll get stable prices there.

Squid

We’re approaching the absolute peak season for ten-armed squid.

Even though not enough are caught with low-impact gear, a fair amount still makes it to market.

When we don’t have them from Danish fisheries, we get them line-caught from Spain — fresh — or from Morocco, frozen or thawed.

Squid may smell like summer, but in Denmark, they taste like winter!

Haddock

Ah, Captain Haddock. Haddock means autumn rain and woolly socks.

They’re caught year-round, but it’s in the cold months that haddock are at their fattest and finest.

They’re not big — but so what? The same goes for most vegetables… and people.

We don’t order green asparagus in November just because peeling Jerusalem artichokes is a hassle, do we?

So haddock are small? Work with it. Fix it.

We can’t bully nature into giving us what we want. We’re the ones who have to adapt — and when we do, we start to see nature’s beauty. And haddock is pure beauty.

Put it on the menu with the captain!

It’s cheap. Delicious. And beautiful.