Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
Brill
The rounder, gentler cousin of the sole.
- Poached in fish stock
- Meunière with brown butter
- Rolled fillets baked in the oven
- In French
- Barbue
- Scientific name
- Scophthalmus rhombus
- In the water
- A flatfish of sandy or muddy seabeds in the north-east Atlantic, English Channel and North Sea, from 5 to 50 m.
- Season & buying
- Available much of the year; the flesh is especially appreciated in winter and spring.
- Common length
- ~30 cm
- How to identify it
- Oval and fairly thick body
Both eyes on the left side
Smooth skin without bony tubercles
On the plate
Fine, tender and faintly sweet flesh, less fatty than sole.
Avoid: Cooking it too long: its delicate flesh becomes stringy.
Brill can change the colour of its pigmented side to blend in with the seabed where it rests.
In Umay recipes
4 Umay recipes call for it.
