Fillet a Fish

No fingers were cut while bringing you this how to.

Thus it begins

Before you do anything else rinse the fish in cold water. Then cut off the fins as seen above. The easiest way to do this is to trace around the cartilage. Keep them if you are making stock other wise — into the trash.

You really should buy a deboning knife

Begin the cut at the base of the tail and lay the blade on the spine. You are going to trace the knife blade up against the spine of the fish keeping it  parallel to the cutting board.

Working the meat

Halfway through the fish take the knife and score down from the top. Use the top fin to judge where to make the first incision.

Now it makes sense

Using the knife blade separate the flesh from bone by working downward while holding the fillet up. By tracing the blade across the bones the flesh will lift away.

So close

After working around the rib cage slice the remaining meat away from fish body.

The last cut

There will be a small piece of fish remaining on the skeleton. Score against the bone to remove it. I like to use this part to flavor stocks and sauces.

All that remains

Above are the two fillets plus meat tenders and carcass.