Recently enjoyed butterfish at a local restaurant. Is it known by another name? Cant find it anywhere.?

Question

Only heard the name Butter Fish. It was a mild, white fish and
quite delicious. Checking it out in various areas has not helped me one bit. Hope you can help
Thank you
Bettyboop

Answer 1

You probably had one of the many available fatty fish safe to eat. It's name is another thing though which has cause a lot of confusion world wide amongst chefs and people who cook fish a lot.

The restaurants' reason it is called butterfish is because of the oily flesh, which melts in your mouth like butter when cooked.

However according to the Australian Consumer Association
regarding the name of the fish.

"Butterfish is an inaccurate common marketing name used in southern states for a group of fish including escolar, rudderfish and oilfish. Escolar and oilfish are highly oily and have been known to cause gastrointestinal upsets for some sensitive individuals True butterfish is only caught in northern Australia ."

"They also state that escolar, oilfish, rudderfish are the underlying species behind the name ‘butterfish’"- because they are known as waxy fish.

I found out however there are many many fish - all oily- that are referred to as butterfish such as the Pomfret and sablefish and indeed many other in different countries from Asia to the Hawaai because of their oil contents.

The Australian Consumer Association therefore believe it is very important that there is accurate food labelling for health reasons. I can see their point.

Answer 2

i grew up eating butterfish - you're right, it's really good.

Depending on the region, they're also known as dollarfish, Pacific pompano and pomfret. See also SABLEFISH; FISH

Answer 3

Try Escalore, butter fish is prettier and nicer to write on a menu, if I write Escalore, I get "what's that?" no one wants to order "what's that?"

Answer 4

Australian Butterfish