Filet of fish

[Roguish Lawyer]

Maybe this is better in the SF Fieldcraft area, but who wants to describe the proper method for fileting a fish? Let's say a trout.

[brewmonkey]

I thought this was going to be a thread about McDonald.

[Sacamuelas]

Me too Brew!! LOL

I was preparing mcribs and those fake rib lumps impregnated into the shape comments for humorous replies.

RL-

I have about 15 specks on ice that we caught last night to clean this afternoon when I get home. I will take pictures of how I do it if you want. Unless someone beats me to it today.

[Sacamuelas]

Here is a pictorial of how I do it RL. There are many ways to 'skin a cat'...as there are for fileting fish.

1. Lay fish down flat on surface
2. Locate borders of gill plates and cut diagonally just behind fin from midline (top of back)downto the gut at and angle. Depth is to cut until the depth of the spinal column.
3. once depth is reached, turn knife blade with cutting edge towards the tail. Begin skimming along the backbone keeping the tip of the knife at the midline. I flex purposely with pressure so the tip stays deep in the top portion(where all the meat is).
4. work all the way down the length in slow long strokes. stop when you get near the end of the tail- BUT don't cut it off. Now flip the filet portion over as shownin this pic. It is still atached to the fish by the skin. Leave it this way as it makes it much easier to manage the second half of the process. This is shown the next pic.
5. If done properly, the fish portion should be cleaned right at the depth of the backbone with the filet still attached to the skin. YOu can observe if there is much depth of meat left on the fish- practice makes perfect on getting all the meat possible. That is where the flexing the blade comes in.
6. Begin by carefully cutting down near the tail area just to the level of the skin(not through it). Turn blade toward the meat and begin skimming parallel to the skin without cutting through the skin and trying not to waste meat by angling up to high and leaving meat on the skin portion. I find placing right amount downward pressue while maintaining a parallel cutting angle will cause the blade to flex and gives a much better and more consistent skinning without cutting to deep and screwing it up. Slow-long sliding strokes without bringing the tip of the knife past the edge of the fish will help keep it from tearing.
7. continue until you skim all the way to the end and separate the meat from the skin. You can see the flex in the blade in this pic.
8. Final part is ID'ing the bones and abdominal lining on the filet . I marked it outline in blue. You can run your finger and feel the bones along its border. You want to cut just above this bone line to ensure getting all of them away from your filet.
9. PLace your knife above the bone line and cut down with a beveled angled away from the meat portion. Throw away bone/abdominal section and put filet on ice. NOw your filet is ready for cooking with no bones/skin/etc to worry about. Repeat other side of fish.

HTH

[Sacamuelas]

Oops... forgot the finished product photo.

[Roguish Lawyer]

Saca, you da man! Well done.