I
Ian Cloke
Guest
THE owner of one of Scotland's best known restaurants was last night facing a monster problem - how to turn one of the biggest fish landed in Scottish waters in recent times into 600 takeaway suppers.
The Atlantic halibut - Hippoglossus hippoglossus - is the largest flat fish in northern waters and although most weigh in at about one stone, Scottish boats still regularly land catches of single fish weighing in at 10 to 12 stones.
But John Low, the owner of Aberdeen's Ashvale Restaurant, a regular winner of the title of Britain's fish and chip shop of the year, was yesterday preparing to plate up Scotland's biggest fish supper, weighing in at an astonishing 22 stone. The fish is thought to have reached the grand old age of 60 before being caught in a trawler's nets.
All halibut are born male but after attaining a weight of around 100lb, the males turn female.
The gigantic halibut, dubbed Moby **** despite its gender, was caught by a trawler in the Atlantic Ocean and landed at Scrabster harbour in Caithness where it was bought by the Ashvale for a record ?1,000.
Mr Low said: "We are going to have a bit of fun with the fish this weekend. It's the biggest fish we've ever purchased."
A team of filleters have already been put on standby to turn the monster into 600 halibut steaks which will go on sale today at ?5 a time.
Said Mr Low: "It's an awesome fish. I've been in this business a long time and I've never seen anything like it before in my life. Everyone's jaws drop open as soon as they clap eyes on it.
"I'm not even going to try and get it into the deep fat frier. I'll be chargrilling it instead."
Despite its size, however, the Ashvale halibut is not a record breaker. The largest Atlantic halibut ever landed was caught by Ralf Larsen in Norway in June of this year and weighed an astonishing 44 stone.
The Atlantic halibut - Hippoglossus hippoglossus - is the largest flat fish in northern waters and although most weigh in at about one stone, Scottish boats still regularly land catches of single fish weighing in at 10 to 12 stones.
But John Low, the owner of Aberdeen's Ashvale Restaurant, a regular winner of the title of Britain's fish and chip shop of the year, was yesterday preparing to plate up Scotland's biggest fish supper, weighing in at an astonishing 22 stone. The fish is thought to have reached the grand old age of 60 before being caught in a trawler's nets.
All halibut are born male but after attaining a weight of around 100lb, the males turn female.
The gigantic halibut, dubbed Moby **** despite its gender, was caught by a trawler in the Atlantic Ocean and landed at Scrabster harbour in Caithness where it was bought by the Ashvale for a record ?1,000.
Mr Low said: "We are going to have a bit of fun with the fish this weekend. It's the biggest fish we've ever purchased."
A team of filleters have already been put on standby to turn the monster into 600 halibut steaks which will go on sale today at ?5 a time.
Said Mr Low: "It's an awesome fish. I've been in this business a long time and I've never seen anything like it before in my life. Everyone's jaws drop open as soon as they clap eyes on it.
"I'm not even going to try and get it into the deep fat frier. I'll be chargrilling it instead."
Despite its size, however, the Ashvale halibut is not a record breaker. The largest Atlantic halibut ever landed was caught by Ralf Larsen in Norway in June of this year and weighed an astonishing 44 stone.
