Up in Ontario

11 fish filleting tips

My friends Darren and Julie have moved to Malta for 6 months while they get their life in order. Okay, they're life was already in a pretty unbearable order, so they moved for the adventure.

Darren recently posted on his blog about having to fillet a fish. As the guy who fished with him last year, I felt I bore some responsibility in helping out with the matter. So here's a quick summary of what I have learned, and what I posted as a comment.

11 Fish Filleting Tips

1. Get a good, sharp knife with a thin blade. Love the knife. Don't use a kitchen knife, use a filleting knife. Sharpen it with a good steel or ceramic sharpener each time you use it. Clean it well. Along with your hands, it's the only tool you need.

2. Get to know your fish. Each fish is at once different anatomically, which, I suppose, goes without saying, but is also very similar anatomically. The fish merchant you're buying from, get him to show you how to clean the fish. He's your expert. I'd even consider bringing a cutting board (a big cutting board, get a big working space!) and your knife to his stand to clean the fish while he watches. What? He's not going to show you? He will if he wants to sell you more fish.
3. Always cut away from yourself -- body and hands. That sharp knife blade will have to cut bones, flesh and skin, in the fish, that is. It can jerk and move in unpredictable ways, so make sure that whatever cut you're making, if the blade comes loose you don't lose something.
4. Fins are anchored by bones. Wherever fins occur you'll have to cut around them. Fins are also very sharp if touched from the wrong angle. They'll leave little cuts in your hands.
5. Scales need to be cut at the right angle to penetrate and not dull your knife. Cut against their grain to slice between them.
6. Bones provide your guidance. Different bones have different weights. You cut against them or through them to fillet the meat. You cut through them to steak the meat. They also provide great purchase points for the hand you use to hold the fish steady.
7. The fat in fish is throughout the meat in oil and concentrated just under the skin. So when skinning fish, try to get very close to the skin. Fat = flavour.
8. Cleaning fish is hard on your hands overall. You'll have little knicks from scales and fins and the slime from their skin might dry out your hands. Not much to be done about that.
9. Bones are pretty self-evident in fish. Feel around and you'll find them. Think about how they would sit in the fish and you'll find the pattern they make and the purpose they serve. Now you know. Next time you do that same fish you'll ace it.
10. Many fish can be cooked whole or in large pieces and then you can extract the bones once they're cooking (and cooled!). You can also break fish apart as you cook them -- the cooked parts will break apart real easily, which is expecially good for piece of uneven thickness that will take different cooking times. Then just serve the meat and discard the bones. I did this with a 'utility' cut of halibut earlier this week from up around the gill plate. Beautiful meat but it took a little more effort.
11. Are you going to make fish stock or soup from the heads, bones and tails?