Anyone here experienced with skate wing?

[Jenise]

I bought one at Whole Foods the other day to prepare for dinner. I've had skate wing in restaurants and liked it, and I planned to copy the delicious version I'd had two years ago in Burgundy--a distant memory re textures. But first I was going to look for a You Tube on how to prep it--the whole wing looked rather prehistoric sitting on my counter and I couldn't quite intuit how much to trim away. Unbelievably, the fishmonger at WF had no useful advice for me--he said just cut it in strips and eat the flesh off the bones "like pork ribs". Well, NO. Next option was to look for a You Tube, but I've had connection problems all week--mostly NONE--and so it was that day and no outside help was available.

I was on my own. I cut off the outer three inches, then divided the wing in two, removing the big bone at one side. I dusted them with semolina flour and seared them off, adding a few extra minutes cooking time once I had good color. I finished them with lemon and capers. At that point one piece seemed demonstrably thicker/better than the other, so that became Bob's serving.

Wasn't happy. My thinner piece had a lot of cartilage and with a fork I couldn't easily tell the stringy meat from the cartilage. I have a fear of choking on fish bones and after spitting out a couple pieces of cartilage I said, "that's it, I'm done, can't deal with this." Way too much work, waste and potential peril. I ended up making a bowl of buttered noodles--that was my dinner.

Anyone have different results?

Love skate wing. My local French place prepares it so I almost never cook it at home. Anyway, my local fishmonger is a chi-chi place so they probably do all the work before putting it on sale. ::Uncle Pennybags::

So, skate doesn't have bones, it has parallel ribs of cartilage. You are supposed to cut the fillets off the cartilage, top and bottom. The top (dark skin) will be thicker than the bottom (white skin). The fillet will have a ribbed appearance which is lovely on the plate.

A nice report on prep here: https://www.thecaterer.com/news/foodser ... asterclass

[Jenise]

Good link, thank you. Explains so much! #1, my wing was just too small. Just over a pound 450 grams (yes, Mr. Bonepicker said it would be enough for two, I asked as I was skeptical). But it was one of the largest in the case, and anticipating a great deal of waste I chose it for that reason. And I could eyeball the thickest, plumpest side. But barely enough there to consider removing, and nothing on the thinner underside worth the trouble.

Conclusion: when dealing with the smaller wings, there's really only one harvestable portion. Anyway, never again!

HMMM. The restaurants around here don't take the cartilage out before they cook it. When you start to eat it, the 'meat' slides right off . It's like that cartilage in a lobster claw. Just eat around it.

[Jenise]

HMMM. The restaurants around here don't take the cartilage out before they cook it. When you start to eat it, the 'meat' slides right off . It's like that cartilage in a lobster claw. Just eat around it.

That's what I couldn't remember; did I filet the meat from the cartilage last time I had it in a restaurant? Not sure at all, but "just eating around it" wasn't really possible with my end of the wing. Not in a way that's acceptable to me. Just wasn't enough meat there to bother with.

I've had it both ways in restaurants.
I've never bought at Hmart (large Korean food change) where they sell by full piece. Both my farmer's market purveyor (pricey but great) and other local Asian-run fishmonger (good, inexpensive) sell already off cartilage.
But love skate (usually with brown butter/capers, but also love a Franey recipe with tomatoes and herbs). And it's cheap.

[Jenise]

Yes, this was just $7.99/lb. Definitely added to the temptation. But considering how little we got out of it, expensive compared to the fresh local cod that was my alternative for a dollar or two more.

Never tried skate wing. What's it taste like?

[Jenise]

It's a mild, sweet white fish, essentially, but with a unique texture.

Yes, the texture is quite nice (but don't over cook it).

Some restaurants used to sharpen up an edge of a large melon baller and cut fake scallops as the texture is similar but the material is a lot cheaper. Come to think of it, that might be a good way to prepare it!

They are in the same family as other cartilaginous fishes - rays and sharks and such and the 'bones' are easier to deal with.

Anyway, never again!

Come to my local French place with me. We'll eat skate and drink Picpoul!