Dover Sole
Dover sole, also known as ‘Common sole’, is a delicious flatfish with a rating of ‘Good’ on the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide. Dover sole is a centrepiece in European cuisine. It boasts a bright white flesh, which retains its colour when cooked.
IN SEASON
August – December
CATCH METHOD
Trammel and gill nets
ABOUT THE FISH
Net-caught Dover Sole
Dover sole is a popular fish, with its flat shape making it easy to fillet. It is relatively common, often spotted half-buried on sandy seabeds by divers and snorkelers. In the summer, keep an eye out for juveniles swimming along the tide line.
The minimum landing size for dover sole in Jersey is 24 cm. However, an average ‘good sized’ sole comes in around 40 cm and they can sometimes grow up to 80 cm.
LOW-IMPACT CATCH METHODS
Gill and trammel nets
Dover sole is often caught through bottom trawling, however, some fishermen in Jersey target this flatfish using trammel and gill nets.
It can be difficult to find net-caught Dover sole, so be sure to ask the seller how it has been caught.
Adult Dover sole can be found in waters ranging from 5–30m deep. They are visitors of shallower waters during the spring and summer months. Despite this, they’re not typically netted for in these months as the large volume of seaweed around Jersey’s coastline can also get tangled in fishermens nets.
COOKING ADVICE
Dover Sole
Dover sole is a versatile fish – it can be cooked whole, filleted, or stuffed with herbs, so it’s a great fish to experiment with in the kitchen.
The fish tastes great served as 'sole à la meunière', one of the simplest and tastiest Dover sole dishes. The fillet is fried in butter, then finished off with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkling of parsley. Capers are also often added to give a bit of a zing!
When filleting Dover sole, it’s best to remove the tough scales with a scaler before removing the skin. Next, remove the lateral fins that run around the perimeter of the fish with a strong pair of scissors.
Make an incision on the tail, cutting through the skin and running the blade between the flesh and the skin to give a section to grip onto. Sprinkle both the skin around your cut with some salt for extra grip, and peel the skin off the fish, repeating on the other side.
Once your sole is cooked through, it should come off the bone easily. It’s best to remove the lateral bones and spine, which Rick Stein demonstrates in his great video on cooking Dover sole.
