Psetta maxima, a flatfish with an extensive range: from the Black Sea through the Mediterranean and up the European Atlantic coasts as far as the Arctic Circle. It may reach a length of 1 m (just over 3′), but half this is a normal adult size. The colour of the back is generally greyish or sandy brown, and it is noticeable that most scales develop into tiny bony tubercles. In the Black Sea region, these tubercles become much more prominent, indeed larger than the fish's eyes, which accounts for the vernacular names there (meaning ‘nail-head’, for example), and has also caused scientists to distinguish the Black Sea turbots as a subspecies, P. m. maeotica.
The great breadth of the turbot's body accounts for an old Scots name, bannock-fluke (bannock being a round oatcake, and fluke a general name for left-eyed flatfish).
The main fishery for the turbot in Atlantic waters is in the North Sea. The numbers caught are not great, indeed very small in relation to the demand. The firm white flesh is highly esteemed, and is often honoured with an expensive sauce (e.g. lobster sauce, sauce mousseline) in restaurants. The French writer Brillat-Savarin has a memorable anecdote about the procedure devised for steaming a giant turbot; and this is a useful reminder that steaming is an excellent way of cooking it. However, slices cut across and fried, with the skin still on, are also delicious. Various authorities have urged the desirability of eating skin and (this from Jenny Wren, 1880) fins.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
