Hirame vs Karei vs Sole

Was at a Japanese market today and they were selling hirame (halibut), karei (flounder) and gray sole... Wikipedia only somewhat shed some light on these fish... Any opinions on taste differences? Preparations? Etc? Wife is only familiar w/ stewing said flatfishes h/w she was unsure of which one she grew up eating (in Japan). Interestingly enough, was also at Costco which were selling HUGE pieces of halibut (clearly from huge fish), but the hirame being sold were small "2-hand" sized fish in their entierty. I'm familiar w/ dining on flounder in Chinese restaurants where they are either steamed w/ ginger & scallion or filleted, the flesh sauteed while the bones are battered and deep-fried, then the sauteed pieces placed back on the bones w/ some veges (usu baby bok choy) for serving. Since we couldn't decide, we just purchased some squid, asari clams, sanma and scallops.

there are some 30 odd varieties of flounder and sole, all are very similar in flavor and texture. most of the difference comes from size of fish; a larger fish has the same texture as a small fish, but seems meatier because of its size. as far as i can tell, the japanese names are generic and can refer to any flat fish of similar size. In japan they probably refer to whatever the local sole/flounder is, and the names have been expanded to accomodate the different native fish here. All are mild, semifirm fish, low in fat. I prefer what is most of the time sold as "flounder" because i feel its texture is the most balanced and it is thick enough to carry some of its own flavor.

to make things more complicated, most of the sole sold in the states are actually species of flounder; lemon sole is actually blackback flounder, but lemon sole and dab sole (another flounder, actually) are indestinguishable in the skinless fillet form. the latin names will help shed some light on the dilemma, but it is still always a crapshoot in the flatfish world. That is why dover sole is ALWAYS cooked whole and filleted tableside, its distinguishing characteristics are lost when it is filleted ahead of time.

E

Very informative, SushiGaijin. What about the item Mitsuwa or Tensuke sells as "fluke" - looks like fin border portions. Thanks again for all the useful info.

Jay K wrote: What about the item Mitsuwa or Tensuke sells as "fluke" - looks like fin border portions.

This might be engawa - "fin of flounder" (in link below) - really the fin muscle.
See these useful guides for sushi and fish: Fish varieties and Sushi glossary

Interesting - about the Dover sole. Thanks for the info!

fluke is a common name for winter flounder, Paralichthys dentatus. The fin margin is VERY good, resembling skatewing in both texture and flavor, although being slightly less slimy and rich. The meat of the fluke is my favorite fillet of flatfish. The fin margin would be no wider than an inch, no longer than a foot, and no thicker than a quarter inch. The fillet looks like any other flatfish fillet, but is fairly large, sometimes tipping the scale at 2 lbs or more. Fresh fluke ARE available right now, so no doubt it is what it says it is.

E

You can see the fin in one of Erik M.'s pictures in this post, and in one of mine further down, by the way:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=29466#29466

In his, it's the pinkish meat directly in front of the leaf; in mine at far right, next to the lemon.

Those Bob-san pictures looked great. This Japanese market also often has ocean perch aka rose fish. Anyone ever try it or have a good recipe? It was on sale for $2/lb, but I couldn't see how to cook the ugly things. Googled and found a classic Chinese steam w/ ginger & scallion (seems you can do this w/ almost any non-oily fish). I'm wondering if it might be good scored, lightly coated in flour/corn starch and wok fried in oil then w/ a nice sweet & sour saute of thinly sliced veges poured on top. The sanma I just can't get a taste for here in Chicago; Have had great sanma in Japan though... I think I need fire... the flame itself... I recall seeing some nice pictures here of some home-grilled sanma as well as the pictures from the late Matsumoto's. The scallops were excellent tonight as was the squid and asari's yesterday.

How do these flatfishes - halibut, sole, flounder taste vs turbot (which I have not tried). Is turbot more firm like monkfish? Just tried skate wing this evening sauteed a la G Wiv - was not quite what I expected - the fish texture I mean... My better half thought it was like crab meat in texture. I had originally thought the skate would have a texture more like monkfish. I have to confess that the cartilage weirded me out initially, although I guess I should have expected it given their family. I guess if monkfish was initially poor man's scallop, perhaps skate wing can be poor man's king crab.