The classic way to cook a skate wing
Written by Martin Seymour | Editor, The Mayfair Foodie | About Me
Skate wing with brown butter and capers is a classic French-inspired fish dish that serves 1 and takes approximately 10 minutes to cook. This recipe by Martin Seymour of The Mayfair Foodie uses a 225–250g skate wing, lightly dusted in plain flour and pan-fried in unsalted butter over medium heat for around 5 minutes per side, basting continuously. The capers are added to the butter towards the end of cooking, finished with a squeeze of lemon juice and poured over the wing to serve. Martin sources his skate wings directly from fishermen via Wylde Market, an online farmers market. Serve with celeriac purée and cavolo nero for a complete restaurant-quality meal at home.
Updated April 2026
I have to admit I’m a bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to cooking skate wings. I always cook it the same way: pan-fried with butter and capers. Thats is the classic way, I have eaten it with various different sauces in restaurants, but for me, the best way to eat it is the way I’m going to show you today.
Firstly, it is such a lovely fish to eat with plenty of beautiful white flesh with the added bonus that the bone structure of the wing allows you to eat one side, and then you get the added bonus when you turn the wing over and you have another side to eat. If you have not tried a skate wing before, don’t be put of by the fact that the fish is never served filleted. I’m not good when being served a fish with lots of tiny bones in every mouthful; the skate wing bones are not at all fiddly, and removing the flesh is very simple.
Secondly, cooking is easy, as you will find out shortly. Like most white fish, it requires little cooking, and all you need it a large frying pan or several, depending on how many you are cooking for.
I usually buy small wings for a nice meal for one. However, if only large wings are available, you can cut them in half from top to bottom to make two portions.
Anyhow, I did not need to worry as the skate wings I cooked were from Wylde Market, an online food market that links producers to consumers. I bought my skate wings directly from the fisherman, and they are super fresh, I bought more than I needed and froze the other wings; this is an excellent way of having fresh fish available.
So what to serve your skate wing with? I served this recipe with celeriac puree and cavolo nero, both again bought from Wylde market. Skate wings go well with most green veg and maybe some nice new or small roasted potatoes.
Anyhow, you can view the recipe for celeriac puree here (again, very easy). Also as a special bonus, the nice people at Wylde market have given all Mayfairfoodie readers a discount code that gives you £20 off the first order, not bad at all.
Wylde Market discount code MAYFAIR20
If you like this recipe, you can find more of our easy-cook recipes here, our herb-crusted cod with minted pea puree is a big fish loves favourite
Also, if you are a seafood lover, you might like the following articles
Best seafood restaurants in Mayfair
Review of Afternoon Sea at the Mayfair Chippy
Review of Milos Restaurant, St James
For more easy-cook recipes, try our herb-crusted cod with pea puree
Skate wing with brown butter
Print RecipeIngredients
- skate wing 225g-250g
- 4 knobs of unsalted butter
- 2/3 Tbsp of plump capers
- Dusting of plain flour
- tsp of oil
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- salt and pepper
- 200gm of celeriac chopped into small pieces
- 100ml full fat fat milk
- 1 pinch of sea salt
Instructions
The fishmonger should clean and trim the skate wing.
Lightly dust both sides of the skate wing with flour, then season with salt and pepper. While many people choose not to flour the wing, I prefer to do so for added colour.
Heat a little oil in a pan over medium heat. When the oil is warmed, place the skate wing in the pan, thick side down. Add four knobs of butter and baste the top of the wing with the melted butter. Cook for about 5 minutes. If the wing tips start to curl and turn brown, it’s usually ready to be flipped over. Continue basting the wing with butter and add capers to the pan. Cook until the fish is fully cooked. Place the Skate on a plate and pour the butter and capers over the wing.
Serve immediately
