In case you've got yourself a whole, gutted fish you'd love to fillet, it's really not that challenging of a method to follow along with. The difficult part is how you cut the fish, but you'll only improve with practice. If you've just got a huge, fresh piece of salmon with skin, you could skip down to the last section and get right down to skinning and cutting.
Removing the Meat from the Fish
If cutting the meat directly off the fish, you'll need a very sharp knife and a strong hand. The trick is removing the flesh well enough to get all the excellent meat off the fish. It could be a great idea to start slow up until you get a hang of it. To begin with, scale the fish using a sharp knife swiped against the grain of the scales. If you do this in water, it will keep the scales from soaring all over the place and is still equally as effective; just don't press too hard or you'll bruise the fish. If you'd rather go an easier route, a fish scaler might be more your thing. Once the fish is scaled, place your sharp knife a ways behind the gill and cut all the way down. Cut down to the backbone and the turn your knife to cut lengthwise down the fish with your knife parallel to the spine. Use the spine as the guide and saw all the way down to the tail and try and cut off as much meat as possible.
Cut off the underside and top of the fillet and then there is more undesired meat. You don't need to cut too much off the top, however the bottom has the fat of the fish, which is-surprisingly-not that exceptional to eat. Just make sure that the fins are not on your fillets of fish. Flip the fish over and do the exact same thing on the reverse side of the fish, slicing a clean piece from the fish. You should now have two large bits of the fish with skin. In case you'd like you can cut the flesh into fatter parts now and keep the skin on. Some would rather cook salmon with all the skin on, but if not, then you'll have to carefully take away the skin as to get as much meat as possible.
Removing Bones
When you'd like to move the pin bones from your fish, grab a couple of clean, needle-nosed pliers or tweezers plus a knife. The bones are usually most visible in the thickest area of the fish on the middle. Run the rear of your knife across the piece of fish, commencing at the head. The bones should stick up through the flesh, making it simpler to identify them. Then you're able to use fishbone tweezers, regular tweezers or needle-nosed pliers to pull out the bones. Take them out at a forty-five degree angle into the head to make it a little quicker to remove. You should now have a boneless hunk of flesh to deal with. You can double check to be sure you got all the bones, since their tiny size makes it easy to miss a few.
Detaching the Skin and Cutting to Pieces
As soon as the fish has been cut and deboned, you might want to skin the flesh and cut it into appropriate pieces for supper. It's quite simple to do, just follow these steps:
Get a good pair of clean vice grips (I have a pair that I use for various elements in the kitchen only). Grip the salmon fillet by the tail end with the vice grips. Thus, giving you a solid grip over the fish is essential. You can simply make use of your fingers, but it's more difficult and slippery. Set the salmon skin-down on a slicing board. Position the knife where the skin meets the flesh of the fillet. Angle the fillet cutlery slightly downward towards the flesh, and, utilizing a mild sawing motion, cut between the skin and also the meat. Pull a little bit on the skin as you slice with the chef's knife.
Hold the knife flat and up against the fish and cut at a diagonal angle through the flesh. The aim is to get the cut to be as flat as you can so there's an even, flat surface to cook. After all that work of cutting, deboning and skinning, your fish is ready to prepare and serve. It might appear hard initially, but the more you handle the extra tasks of preparing salmon, the much easier it will get. Practice makes just right.
Removing the Meat from the Fish
If cutting the meat directly off the fish, you'll need a very sharp knife and a strong hand. The trick is removing the flesh well enough to get all the excellent meat off the fish. It could be a great idea to start slow up until you get a hang of it. To begin with, scale the fish using a sharp knife swiped against the grain of the scales. If you do this in water, it will keep the scales from soaring all over the place and is still equally as effective; just don't press too hard or you'll bruise the fish. If you'd rather go an easier route, a fish scaler might be more your thing. Once the fish is scaled, place your sharp knife a ways behind the gill and cut all the way down. Cut down to the backbone and the turn your knife to cut lengthwise down the fish with your knife parallel to the spine. Use the spine as the guide and saw all the way down to the tail and try and cut off as much meat as possible.
Cut off the underside and top of the fillet and then there is more undesired meat. You don't need to cut too much off the top, however the bottom has the fat of the fish, which is-surprisingly-not that exceptional to eat. Just make sure that the fins are not on your fillets of fish. Flip the fish over and do the exact same thing on the reverse side of the fish, slicing a clean piece from the fish. You should now have two large bits of the fish with skin. In case you'd like you can cut the flesh into fatter parts now and keep the skin on. Some would rather cook salmon with all the skin on, but if not, then you'll have to carefully take away the skin as to get as much meat as possible.
Removing Bones
When you'd like to move the pin bones from your fish, grab a couple of clean, needle-nosed pliers or tweezers plus a knife. The bones are usually most visible in the thickest area of the fish on the middle. Run the rear of your knife across the piece of fish, commencing at the head. The bones should stick up through the flesh, making it simpler to identify them. Then you're able to use fishbone tweezers, regular tweezers or needle-nosed pliers to pull out the bones. Take them out at a forty-five degree angle into the head to make it a little quicker to remove. You should now have a boneless hunk of flesh to deal with. You can double check to be sure you got all the bones, since their tiny size makes it easy to miss a few.
Detaching the Skin and Cutting to Pieces
As soon as the fish has been cut and deboned, you might want to skin the flesh and cut it into appropriate pieces for supper. It's quite simple to do, just follow these steps:
Get a good pair of clean vice grips (I have a pair that I use for various elements in the kitchen only). Grip the salmon fillet by the tail end with the vice grips. Thus, giving you a solid grip over the fish is essential. You can simply make use of your fingers, but it's more difficult and slippery. Set the salmon skin-down on a slicing board. Position the knife where the skin meets the flesh of the fillet. Angle the fillet cutlery slightly downward towards the flesh, and, utilizing a mild sawing motion, cut between the skin and also the meat. Pull a little bit on the skin as you slice with the chef's knife.
Hold the knife flat and up against the fish and cut at a diagonal angle through the flesh. The aim is to get the cut to be as flat as you can so there's an even, flat surface to cook. After all that work of cutting, deboning and skinning, your fish is ready to prepare and serve. It might appear hard initially, but the more you handle the extra tasks of preparing salmon, the much easier it will get. Practice makes just right.
