Page 485 - YC Cooking School

2. Arm yourself with a large sharp knife – a fillet or chef’s knife will do the trick – and a

clean chopping board. You’ll struggle to fillet a fish without the correct equipment, so
if you’re in doubt, ask your fishmonger to do it for you.
3. Look for the dorsal fin and make an incision with the knife along one side of it.
Carefully run the knife along the entire length of the skeleton, listening for the sound
of knife on bone. This gives you an indication that you’re on the right track and are
minimising wastage.
4. Make an incision at an angle behind the gill to separate the fillet from the head.
5. Repeat this process on the other side of the fish and hey presto – you’ll have two
fillets.
6. Cut off the belly flap and add this to the stock pot along with the head, tail and any

bits of skin.
7. To remove the skin, make an incision between the fish flesh and skin, slide the knife
under the skin and then run the blade along the entire length of the fillet. Again, you
can attempt this yourself if you’re feeling confident, or you can ask your fishmonger to
do it for you.
8. Finally, remove the pin bones that run along the length of the fillet. You can use a pair
of professional fish tweezers or brand new regular tweezers – just make sure to clean
them afterwards!

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