I found Norwegian wolf fish this summer at Trader Joe’s. It’s spotted like a cheetah, and makes lofty claims that it tastes like shell fish. So of course I started googling recipes. Almost all of them stated that it was a terrible tasting fish. The key to it being terrible tasting was the way it was prepped.
Different kinds of fish deserve different methods of preparation. It appears that people cooking it, decided to make it like a salmon. Basically putting tomato, onion and lemon juice on it and baking or BBQing it. The key to making wolf fish taste good, is the skin. It’s a scaleless fish. The skin is incredibly tough, and it has rather mobile layer of connective between the skin, and what actually tastes good. In my mind, I imagine the wolf fish being the Eeyore of the Norwegian Sea. It spends all day crunching up shellfish, and absorbing boat engine oil, and sadness. As soon as you remove its skin, and connective tissue, It becomes a delcious fish again…. Apparently I am the buffalo bill of the Norwegian Sea. It rubs the butter on its skin!
2 fillets wolf fish
Salt
Pepper
2 tbs Butter
Since I got my fish at trader Joe’s, it was frozen. I set it out that morning and let it thaw. I then washed it, gave it a gentle squeeze to get the rest of the juice out, and patted it dry. Melt your butter in a frying pan, and turn it on the high side of medium high. Place it on the fry pan skin side down, and let the skin get crispy, and melt that layer of tissue on the underside. Give it about 10 minutes. (I know that is a scary thought, but Its not a normal fish.) Drop your heat down a couple notches to medium high, and flip it .
While it’s cooking the flesh (about 5 minutes), lift off the skin and chuck it. Then take a knife and gently scrape off that extra layer of tissue underneath the skin. It’s like a gelatinous goo. Scrape until there is no more goo, and you are down to the flesh level, flip it one last time and sear in that deliciousness. You will know its finished when you can easily separate it with a fork. I served mine with a beurre blanc and asparagus. Perfect Wolf fish compliments.
Feasts of Strength 
Hmmm…. sounds and looks absolutely delicious!
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Best regards
Dina
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I think its quite tasty thank you
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Got mine at Trader Joes too!!! Going to cook it tonight. I will let you know how it goes!! Thanks for the advice!
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Great! I’d love the feedback! I hope it turns out wonderful!
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I too picked it up at Trader Joes and plan on using your advise on cooking it tomorrow night. Fingers crossed Ü
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I hope it turns out beautifully. Thaw it out of its bag of you can. I think that helped out quite a bit too
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Did you thaw it out in a different bag like a zip lock or tupperware?
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I put it on a wire rack over a dish in the fridge.
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Well my BFF and I did cook it last night and I gotta say it was pretty good….it was even better when we dipped it in some butter. We added rice pilaf , artichokes and some mussels to complete our meal. Will definitely buy it again. Thanks for the help in how to cook it.
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Thanks for the feed back, I’m glad it turned out!
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After reading so many negative opinions about this fish on other websites, I was very pleased I came across yours. I made it tonight pretty much using your recipe except I used lemon pepper and extra butter. It came out perfect. I’ll definitely make this again. Thanks so much. 🙂
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Wonderful, I found them pretty daunting too. Their little fish hides are so lovely though. Glad it came out well. Lemon pepper sounds like an excellent addition.
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I am not the adventurous fish sort, but I gotta give you extra bonus points for working in the Buffalo Bill quote.
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LOL If I quote Buffalo Bill it MUST be tasty! ….. or very….very creepy.
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Lucky me that this was the FIRST article/recipe I came across! I cooked it exactly as you instructed and it was beautiful…firm, mild, slight freshwater taste…drizzled in browned butter served with a side of crunchy Szechuan green beans. My 16 yr. old son loved it! Thank you!
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Excellent! So glad you guys liked it!
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The standard norwegian recipe involves taking off the skin and pan frying it, with some onions of course. Fried onions are always good.
White sauce (bechamel) with herbs (parsley, garlic, bear’s paw garlic, chives… whichever ones you like) and potatoes are also good. I prefer those that break loose when boiled so they can absorb more delicious sauce.
There was a recipe which marinated them in a garlic/pesto mix that was delicious, but I can’t find it.
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Thinking of making w asparagus. What kind of pasta would you pair with this? Would a whipping cream/butter/lemon/white wine sauce with good?
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That sounds good, but that with the beurre blanc might be super rich. I would either not do the beurre blanc, or I would do a pasta with just olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan, garlic, oregano, and thyme. Maybe orzo?
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Thanks! perfect. I had forgot you mentioned beurre blanc and didn’t know what it was… But I looked it up and am gonna give it a shot!
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Just learned of Wolf Fish and have it on order, should be in this week. It’s coming in from Iceland, wild caught. This recipe sounds great, I’ll try it.
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Surprised to read that negative reviews wolffish are not uncommon. Here in Norway it has been an exclusive fish for many years, bringing top price on the menu in fancy restaurants. Together with monkfish, it is known for being similar to lobster in both texture and taste. Its a mildly expensive treat for those days when the common types of fish aren’t good enough.
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It’s a good fish! There’s many reasons we ruin this fish. First, we never get it fresh. I actually don’t think I’ve seen it since I wrote this post. Second I can’t think of anything close to it except halibut maybe? It comes with the skin on, and we assume that’s how you eat it. I had a waaaaay more pleasant experience once I removed the skin. And texture wise since none of our fish come from anywhere that cold and deep, it’s way thicker than anything we get. We ruin it, thinking it’s like halibut or cod,
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