Filleting Techniques

[Steelhead S2]

There was a good thread running about knives a while ago, and it got me thinking about how I fillet my salmon. I go tail to head, I know many go head to tail. And I often struggle a bit with the second side. I peel the whole side off then trim of the ribs, but I know others delicately trim off the slab and leave the ribs on the carcass.

So, how do you do it and why? I'm interested in tips and tricks, and I'm sure you've got them!

 

[scott craven]

Head to tail and then trim off the ribs after.
I gotta get a good pair of kitchen pliers to pick out
the horizontal bones.
(anybody do that ?)

 

[Gerry]

I leave the rib bones on the carcass. First side is always easy, other side not so much but I am getting better. I use a good pair of needle nose pliers to get out those hoizontal bones, especially if I am smoking the fillets. I do think that I have to get a better knife though.

 

[trendsetter]

Pliers work great for the pin bones (the strip of thin bones running lengthwise along the fish). I've used tweezers and they work in a pinch. Makes for happy dinner guests when there is no bones in the smoked salmon.

 

[Degree of Freedom]

most important thing...get a good knife and keep it sharp. My parents bought me a really good knife for my b-day last year...that thing practically fillets fish by itself!
I leave the ribs on the carcass and use tweezers for the pin bones...pulling the pins is major pain in the butt...gotta be a better way.

 

[trendsetter]

most important thing...get a good knife and keep it sharp. My parents bought me a really good knife for my b-day last year...that thing practically fillets fish by itself!
I leave the ribs on the carcass and use tweezers for the pin bones...pulling the pins is major pain in the butt...gotta be a better way.

X2 on the sharp knife. The best by far for pulling the pin bones are surgical forceps. The don't slip at all like tweezers do. Needle nose pliers are a good option.

 

[Dogbreath]

Head to tail and then trim off the ribs after.I gotta get a good pair of kitchen pliers to pick out the horizontal bones.(anybody do that ?)

I was in Gourmet Warehouse here in Vancouver this afternoon-$20 for a pair of small cheap Made-in-You-Know-Where pliers for removing pin bones.

Or you can just use the ones you already own.

 

[Bassblaster]

I used pliers for pulling the pin bones on my fish for the first time this year. Never go back to my old pain the ### way again. I filet from head to tail and have done both methods of leaving or removing the ribs. I leave the filet attched at the tail and use the carcass to hold the skin on the filet while I run the knife down to remove the skin. Takes extra counter space, but I hate fighting with it if it's removed.

 

[Steelhead S2]

Neat idea for skin removal.

 

[Fish Assassin]

removeing pin bones is a such a pain. I seen a smoke house doing it one day and it looked easy so I had to ask. They let the fish sit for 3 days if freezing fresh fillets or freeze first if smoking then the bones come out real easy. They also had spoons with a little hole drilled in it that they placed over the pin bone which popped it up high allowing the bone to be removed with ease with out tearing any of the meat.

 

[Heavyc]

Neat trick FA, I may try that this year. Normally I just lazily leave the pin bones in and just tell people beware of bones.

 

[wolf]

I cut off the head rip out the guts then filet from the head to the tail make sure you leave the pectoral fin on as its something for you to hang on to ill take some pics when i get another fish.. hopefully tommorow.

wolf

 

[Dave S]

For getting pin bones out, surgical forceps are the only way.

 

[Islandgirl]

A friend of mine cuts out the pin bone area and uses that part for canning and smokes the fillets in 2 peices. You get your canned salmon and calcium from the pin bones and nice peices of smoked salmon without bones.

 

[Jahfreddy]

FA - thanks for the headsup on the spoon with a little hole in it. That totally makes sense, and
I'm sure it does wonders to prevent tearing the flesh.

Regular tweezers do not work well. There's not enough grip.

I'm pretty particular with my kitchen stuff so when asked, I told my in-laws that I would like a good pair of fish tweezers as a Xmas gift. The ones I was given have a logo that looks like "LT", and made in France. They are like big tweezers (approx 5", versus 2-1/2" for regular ones), and are curved so you get really good leverage at the business end. They are also wide (not pointed) and curved - about 1 cm wide, so they don't poke into or tear into the flesh. In a nutshell, they are wide enough to "push down" the flesh to expose the bone (and not mash it), and have plenty of grip to easily pull out bones. They were bought in Victoria, although I don't know where, but I doubt they would be much more than $20 or so.

By sheer luck, I found the exact ones online. I think that added bend about a 1/4 way from the business end is what really gives them their grip.

http://toronto.flyerland.ca/products/bed-bath-and-beyond-paderno-r-stainless-steel-product-5254918



They work like a charm.


Happy plucking!!

 

[tubber]

So, how do you do it and why? I'm interested in tips and tricks, and I'm sure you've got them!

I've done it several ways, but here is the one I use now.
Bleed fish, then remove gills, but leave the head on and the thingy attached under the head. This makes it easier to hold belly ice and minimizes flesh being exposed to water. Then cut from vent toward head leaving about an inch uncut between the pectoral fins. Dress and rinse several times, shaking by the tail to get more blood out. Pack in salt ice.

When you are ready to vacuum seal is the time to filet. Rinse again and scrape off slime with the back of the knife. Hold the fish by the tail with the head by your feet. With a heavy sharp knife, cut off all the fins except the pectoral fins with one strong stroke that moves from tail to head. Try not to slice your leg or cutoff your nuts. (For right handers)with the fish on the cutting board and the head on your left, roll the fish on his back and cut the head on an angle taking half the brain. Turn the head end to your right with the belly toward you. Use the pectoral fin as a handle and lift up and make a few strong strokes with a long filet knife to remove the filet while cutting through the ribs. Flip over so the dorsal side is toward you and slice the backbone off the other side, again using the dorsal fin to lift with. Now remove the pectoral fins and the hard part of the collar without removing very much flesh at all. Use the tip of the filet knife to carefully remove the ribs. Use the heavy knife again to trim with so your filet knife never touches the cutting board. I like to eat the belly so I only take off about a quarter inch. Cut into smoker rack or smaller sized pieces using the big knife again. DO NOT WASH THE FILETS. Use cloth or paper towels to wipe any bits of blood or slime. Rinse off the cutting board and knives and wipe away excess water before starting in on the next fish (if you have more than one)
Scrape the back bones, the pectoral fins, and the back of the heads with a spoon to make salmon burgers with.
Vacuum seal and freeze; pull the pin bones before you cook it.

 

[profisher]

Cut off head, gut as normal. Fillet from head end to tail running a large thick and sharp knife down backbone. As`Wolf says leaves pecs on as they are what you need to hang onto. Once both sides are done remove rib bones by running a thin fillet knife up under them. I then remove the entire belly fat from front to tail (about 1 1/2 inches wide) for hali bait. One thing that nobody does that makes a huge difference in the quality of the fish at the end of a days summer fishing is ICE!!! Up at Nootka the guys at the lodge take ice with them each day to keep the fish cold. The difference in the firmness of the flesh between their fish and those not using ice is very evident.

 

[Sculpin]

Here is a good video on filleting salmon.

http://www.filleting-fish.com/atlantic-salmon

Scroll down mid page for the video.

The site has filleting video's for a wide variety of fish.

 

[Cuba Libre]

This post is a bit off topic, but it does involve filleting on the water.
Until last year I had to put up with getting fish snot , scales and blood on the Cuba Libre when I landed a fish. I was bleeding the fish in the transom well, before icing them in my fish coffin. It was OK, but not the best as guck was getting all over the motor fuel and electrical cables . So I decided to get an aluminum bleeding trough fabricated that would hold several fish at a time and drain over the transom. It just hooks over the back of the false transom ( also called the splash well)

It worked great! The ice in the cooler kept a lot cleaner too. But after a couple of trips to Port Hardy and sitting for a long time to access the public cleaning table at the ramp, I decided I needed to be able to gut and fillet fish while on the water. The result was a filleting table that fits on top of the bleeding trough.

.
Its removable to access the fish underneath, and it drains into the bleeding trough when you give it a shot with the washdown hose.

The table is at a nice height for filleting a salmon up to around 40 lbs ( my best on the tray so far was around 30# and it fit very nicely).
As soon as the fillets have been removed , taking into account things like leaving tails on some fish for identification) they go on to CLEAN salt ice in the cooler.

It is somewhat similar to nylon cleaning tables that you can get that fit along the gunnel of a larger boat .But mine cost next to nothing. I know other boats have done some similar things to handle their fish, so I would like to compare notes and maybe come up with even more improvements

BTW ..By filleting during a lull , we save a LOT of time and frustration at the ramp. Pull the boat and head for the campsite.

ps-- Hardy is HOT right now.

One last thing for those that dont do much fish handling. The knife on the table is a 10 inch Kershaw. It enables a person to remove a fillet from a large chinook with almost one motion. Not necessary to have a such a big knife for smaller fish, but it sure helps when doing slabs.

 

[Sculpin]

That's a beauty set up there Cuba libre. Very nice.

We like to do just as you described. Great eats in the end.