Fish Butchery by Josh Niland – Hardback Cookbook

Fish Butchery is Sydney chef Josh Niland's hardback guide to breaking down whole fish like a butcher breaks down a beast, with step-by-step cuts and more than 40 recipes for everything from fish sausages to pies. It won the 2024 James Beard Award for Restaurant and Professional book, and it's the third of his fish books after The Whole Fish Cookbook and Take One Fish.

Treat a fish like a side of beef

Josh Niland changed how chefs around the world think about seafood: dry-handle it, age it, and use far more than the fillet. This book is his most hands-on yet. It lays out the cuts, the tools and the thinking, then shows what a fish butcher can make from parts most kitchens throw away.

What's inside

It's built in three sections. Catch looks at how fish are landed, stored and sold, and what needs to change. Cut is the butchery manual, with photographed step-by-steps for cuts such as the reverse butterfly and double saddle. Craft turns those cuts and offcuts into finished food.

The Craft recipes are the eye-openers: tuna bresaola, fish frankfurts, rillette, a tuna mincemeat pie and a pâté en croûte, plus a yellowfin tuna rib eye cut and cooked like a steak. The studio photography by Rob Palmer is bold, graphic and genuinely beautiful.

Who it's for

Cooks who already grill fish and want to go further, recreational fishers who land whole fish, and chefs or butchers looking at value-added seafood. Beginners will learn a lot, but this is a deep, ambitious book.

About Josh Niland

Josh Niland is a Sydney chef who opened Saint Peter in Paddington with his wife Julie in 2016, then Fish Butchery, a fishmonger built around dry-handled, line-caught fish. His debut, The Whole Fish Cookbook, won the James Beard Book of the Year in 2020, and Take One Fish followed in 2021.

The Rub Smuggler's Verdict

Word from the docks: this is the book that proves a fish has more cuts than most butchers' windows. The yellowfin tuna rib eye stopped me cold, cut thick off the spine and cooked like a steak, and the photography makes every page look like a gallery. Buy it, then go and buy a whole fish instead of two fillets. Read it with The Fishmonger's Son for everyday seafood cooking and Meat: The Ultimate Companion for the land-side butchery. Season the grilled cuts with Butchers Axe Scout Lemon Pepper.

Questions answered

Who wrote Fish Butchery?

Fish Butchery was written by Josh Niland, the Sydney chef behind Saint Peter and the Fish Butchery shop in Paddington.

How many recipes are in Fish Butchery?

The publisher lists more than 40 recipes, alongside step-by-step butchery for cuts such as the reverse butterfly and double saddle.

Is Fish Butchery good for beginners?

It's approachable if you're keen, with clear photographed steps, but it's an ambitious book best suited to cooks who want to learn real technique.

Is Fish Butchery a hardback, and how many pages?

Yes. It's a 272-page hardback published by Hardie Grant Books in 2023.

Is Fish Butchery by an Australian author?

Yes. Josh Niland is a Sydney chef, and the book won the 2024 James Beard Award for Restaurant and Professional book.