
Recipe for monkfish cheeks sous vide
Juicy and tender sous vide monkfish cheeks.
A delicacy with endless serving possibilities!
The monkfish is a fish that can grow up to 2 meters in length, with an almost abnormally large head and a very big mouth. It lives in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and is often referred to by many as the world’s ugliest fish.
What the monkfish lacks in appearance, it makes up for on the delicacy scale: Monkfish cheeks are incredibly delicious, whether grilled, fried, or steamed — but as with many other things, I decided to test how it performs with the sous vide method.
Prepared as I did here, the fish was soft yet firm with a slight bite, resembling scallop in its texture. The taste was similarly reminiscent of shellfish but with a distinctive monkfish flavor — incredibly delicious!

Monkfish Cheeks Sous Vide
Ingredients
- 300 gram Monkfish Cheeks
- Salt
Instructions
- Start by gourmet salting the monkfish cheeks for 20 minutes. This is done to draw out moisture from the fish and make the flesh firmer. Usually, I gourmet salt for about 30 minutes, but as the monkfish cheeks are so small, I settled for 20 minutes in this case.
- Meanwhile, prepare your sous vide apparatus and set the temperature to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). Optionally, boil the water in a kettle and pour it into the bath along with hot water from the tap.
- After gourmet salting, rinse the fish under cold running water to remove the salt.
- Pat the fish dry thoroughly.
- Place the fish in a vacuum bag.
- Vacuum seal the monkfish cheeks.
- Place the vacuum-sealed cheeks in your sous vide apparatus.
- Cook for 25 minutes.
- Serve.