Grilled fillet of turbot with vegetables and sauce.

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Mark Birchall’s guide to cooking turbot at home

23 Oct 2025

Chef

The Moor Hall chef shares his tips for mastering the cooking of one of the UK’s finest fish

For a luxury fish, you just don't get better than turbot in and around British waters. Cook it right and the flavour and the texture is unbeatable.

It’s a seasonal fish (spring and autumn). You don't want to use them in between because they’re not the best – they're generally a bit smaller and roe-y.

At the restaurant, we tend to use five-kilo fish. That's the perfect size for me. At home, a three-kilo fish is fine because you don't need to feed a million people with it.

I will always either cook it on the bone or filleted, with the skin on. I don't serve it with the skin on – I don’t like to eat it, it’s too thick. At the last minute, I peel the skin off and that keeps all the fattiness and stickiness on the fish.

How to cook turbot on the bone

Treat it like a piece of beef or a nice piece of lamb. Don't cook it straight from the fridge. Get a little bit of room temperature on that fish.

Then, place your tronçon in the pan skin-side down with some foamy butter. Just roll it around and cook the skin a little bit. Then, turn it over and put it into a really low oven, maybe 120°C, plenty of butter on top, and cook it really slowly, so it's just warm in the middle. Test with a skewer on the lips.

Take it out and let it rest somewhere warm for half the time you've cooked it. Then carve it. Just run the knife off the bone. The beauty of turbot is that there are no pin bones in there. There's one bone that goes through the middle. Then you have some smaller bones where the skirt is. Remember to peel the skin off your tronçon at the last minute.

How to cook turbot off the bone

Off the bone, treat it exactly the same. Leave the skin on the fillet and cook it very gently in butter, flip it over and then into a low oven. Or you could just grill it gently with plenty of butter, but a really low grill, really slow. Again, at the last minute, pull the skin off. All the stickiness, all the flavour in the skin, will penetrate the fish.

What flavours to pair with turbot?

At the restaurant, we do it three or four ways. At the start of the year, we pair it with a classic beurre blanc with loads of caviar, maybe some artichokes. In summer, we use courgettes, perhaps a lovely smoked courgette puree. The smoking really complements the turbot. At this time of year, we move on to squash. We make two sauces with it: a spicy, gingery marigold butter sauce that's made with turbot head stock [see below], and one made with prawn heads and red mullet.

Mark Birchall’s tips for cooking turbot at home

Try brining your turbot fillet first to firm up the fish and intensify the flavour. We brine a fillet for about three minutes in a 10% brine solution.

Turbot heads make a great stock. Ask your fishmonger for a couple. Roast them first to intensify the flavour. You can do a double stock if you already have fish stock – add a nice mirepoix, white vegetables, then just reduce it down. You can use it to create really sticky and intense sauces, and that all comes from the fish head stock.

I like to make an oil made with nori, chives, parsley and a little grapeseed oil, blend it all up. I brush it on the fish just before serving, then I dust it with some nori powder (just blend nori sheets with a little sea salt). It gives the fish a beautiful extra layer of flavour.

23 Oct 2025