John Dory is an eccentric and lovely round fish found along the North Atlantic and South Pacific sea floor. Ours is caught off the coast of New England, and though it’s not a targeted species, it is relatively common bycatch and always a pleasure to bring home. It combines a medium-sweet, robust, and subtly creamy flavor profile with a smooth and firm texture. Though its yield is not quite as generous as other species, these American catches remain a superb value, especially compared to their pricier European counterparts. It requires a bit of finesse to fillet, promptly rewarded with ample recipe versatility and thin, delicious skin that can crisp up marvelously well.
Of course, one would be remiss to discuss John Dory without acknowledging the sweet, silly name itself. While the precise origin is not universally agreed upon, a fairly likely story is that it is an anglicization of the French phrase “jaune doré,” which translates to golden yellow—often (though not always) an apt description of the fish’s hue. To make matters even more interesting, John is often referred to by the alternate moniker of “St. Peter’s Fish,” originating from the story of St. Peter yanking him out of the Sea of Galilee and indelibly leaving a thumb print on JD’s side, a look thereafter adopted by all his descendants to this very day.
Whole fish averages 5 - 6 lbs
