Meat & Seafood

Halibut (Raw)

Halibut is one of the largest flatfish species, and its notably firm, meaty texture holds up especially well to grilling, a cooking method that would flake apart a more delicate white fish.

It's one of the more expensive common white fish, priced accordingly given wild halibut's more limited, seasonal fishing season compared to farmed fish like tilapia.

Its lean, dense flesh dries out more noticeably if overcooked than a fattier fish would, making careful attention to cook time genuinely important for preserving its prized moist, flaky texture.

Atlantic and Pacific halibut are genuinely distinct species rather than regional names for the same fish, and Atlantic halibut populations have been severely overfished for so long that most Atlantic halibut sold today comes from farming, while wild-caught halibut sold in the US is almost entirely the more abundant Pacific species.

Pacific halibut fishing is tightly regulated by the International Pacific Halibut Commission, a joint US-Canada body that sets an annual catch quota based on stock assessments, a management structure credited with keeping the Pacific halibut fishery considerably more sustainable than many other wild commercial fisheries.

Pacific halibut can grow to an enormous size compared to most food fish, with the largest recorded catches weighing several hundred pounds, a scale that's part of why halibut is typically sold as steaks or fillets cut from a much larger animal rather than as a small whole fish the way trout or tilapia often are.

Halibut cheeks, a small, especially tender round of muscle from the fish's head, are considered a delicacy by chefs and halibut fishermen alike but are rarely available at a standard grocery store, since only a small amount comes from each fish and they're often kept or sold separately by the processors who first handle the catch.

Like other flatfish, a halibut is born with an eye on each side of its head like a typical fish, but one eye gradually migrates across the skull during early development until both eyes end up on the same side, an unusual developmental process that lets the adult fish lie flat and camouflaged against the ocean floor with both eyes facing upward.

Coastal Alaskan towns host organized halibut fishing derbies each summer, competitive tournaments offering cash prizes for the largest catch, events that draw both serious anglers and tourists and reflect halibut's status as one of the most economically and recreationally significant fish in Alaskan coastal waters.

Before an individual fishing quota system was introduced in the early 1990s, the commercial Pacific halibut season was compressed into just a handful of frantic, government-set open days each year, a scramble nicknamed the "halibut derby" in the industry, since boats raced to catch as much as possible during a very narrow legal window regardless of weather or safety.

Halibut's firm, meaty texture holds up especially well to grilling and high-heat searing compared to a more delicate flaky fish like sole or flounder, letting it be handled more like a steak on the grill without falling apart, a real practical advantage cooks often cite for choosing halibut over a softer white fish.