How to Fillet Fish

If you're planning to cook salmon, "How to fillet this salmon" could be another question you ask yourself after thinking about how to cook salmon for dinner. Cleaning fish is a common task in the kitchen and filleting is a skill. It is a great thing to have especially to those people getting tired of their baked fish recipes. But first, you'll need a cutting board, a sharp knife with thin flexible blade and a broad flat blade for removing the hard skin.

Start off by cutting behind the fin and up behind the skull down to the backbone. Then take a very sharp knife and run it right along the backbone about 1/2 an inch deep and starting at the tail end and cutting to the head. Now starting at the tail end of the fish, lay your knife down against the bones without cutting them. Turn the fish around and starting back at the tail, cut laying the knife against the bones and cutting around the bony cartilage at the head to remove the filet. Examine the fish for pin bones. To remove pin bones, use tweezers or utility pliers and pull them out. You can feel the bones with your fingers to double check for them. If you want to remove the skin, work cutting from the tail end and holding the tail in one hand and the knife in the other. Move the knife cutting right against the skin all the way to the head end. That is how to filet a fish.