Fillet o' Fish

Technique Post

Maybe everyone learned this at their momma's knee, but I came from a non-fishy household, so it really has been a revelation to me to learn to to skin and fillet a fish this last week. In this case, it was a Sole, but I think the principles could apply more broadly. Given that Katy and I eat fish all the time, this could be useful, although unlike the fish markets here in Paris, most all fish that we get back the good ol' U S of A are already filleted. Perhaps if we have another couple over, I can give it a try with a whole fish...

For those of you interested in technique, you start by trimming off the fins by the gills and around the outside (but not the tail) using a scissors. Then, you use your knife to make an shallow cut across the midpoint of the tail through the skin, but not the tail bones. Using the blade perpendicular to the tail, you gently shove the skin towards the body, starting from the line you created with the knife. Once you have a little flap of skin free, at the body, you hold the fish down at the base of the flap with your left hand and use a cloth or a couple of folded paper towels in your right hand to pull the skin off in one sheet, moving your left hand along to keep it at the base of the free flap all the way. I have to say that this was pretty cool. Yeah, I know, I'm a kitchen geek now.

Now it's time to fillet away. Using a knife with a flexible blade (this is really important), you use just the tip, standing straight up, to draw a line down the center spine - just to the dept of the middle of the fish, where the spine is, not to the cutting board. Using just the fingers to gently draw a line down the spine until the meat on either side of the spine just starts to pull away - not more than 1/4 inch. This is where the flexible knife comes in. Having the flexible blade lets you make progressive slices at a shallow angle on one side of spine, from head to tail, pressing the blade down so that it bends and rides along the top of the bones, cleanly separating the fillet. After 3-4 passes, you should have the whole fillet - you can make a cut along the outside edge to detach it.

Since this worked great for me the first time, I'll put this down as one of the great tools that I'll be taking away from this course. Many of the class recipes haven't thrilled me, but I'm seeing the benefit in these techniques that I'm learning - how to fillet a fish, how to tie up a chicken, how to cut poultry, how to make basic sauces, etc.

Please let me know if you're interested in more of these instructional posts
...or not!