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How to Debone a Fish

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Category: Cooking, Tackling Seafood

Deboning a fish may seem like a daunting task, but Sam Talbot shows you how to do it in just a few easy steps. First and foremost, you'll need a sharp boning knife -- a serrated knife or electric knife will just rip through the flesh. Start by running your blade from head to tail. Remove the cartilage and belly. Take out the pinbones one by one, remove the skin and cut into portions. Voila!

Step 1: Getting Started
Make sure you have a sharp boning knife. Start where the head would have been, and pick up the belly with your left hand. Take the tip of your knife and run it down from head to tail.

Step 2: Remove Cartilage and Belly Bones
Lay one of the halves skin down and use your hand as a guide. Place your left hand on the fish, find the pinbones and filet it straight down to the tail, removing the belly.

Step 3: Remove Pinbones
Take the back of your boning knife and pull it along your filet. You should see the pinbones pop up like dominoes. Use pliers to pull the bones out at an angle, one by one. Don't pull up, as the bones will tear the flesh.

Step 4: Remove the Skin
Take a towel and hold the fish down so it stays secure. Again, start an angle and use your boning knife to cut right down the back of the skin.

Step 5: Cut Into Portions
Cut your beautiful filet into nice 5-ounce portions and enjoy!

Items You'll Need for this GMC Trade Secret

  • Fresh Whole Salmon
  • Sharp Boning Knife
  • Pliers
  • Towel

More Trade Secrets

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14 Comments

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JUDY

Let somone else do it. Buy your fish at the market.

February 12 2012 at 5:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
david

Use carbon steel blade not stainless knives.
Stainless is hard to resharpen and carbon steel is easy to get a super sharp edge. To store knife dry then oil the blade with edible oil until next use.

February 12 2012 at 4:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Daniel A. Nagy

Remove the lateral line (oil vein) from the skin side of the filet to eliminate the strong oil taste before cooking.

February 12 2012 at 4:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sol Morales

Awesome,really great teaching how to prepare a nice fish filet in a very easy way, Thanks!!!

February 12 2012 at 3:30 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
Dubagee

OMG I will just get my fish deboned at the market. LOL. Ugh, but lately the fish I have been buying hasn't been scaled, now that's GROSS! lol... And I love skin :-/

www.gigieatscelebrities.com

February 12 2012 at 2:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Helen

hello

February 12 2012 at 1:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cewcma

He goes through the move but hid yield is poor. There was quite a bit of waist.

February 12 2012 at 1:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
john

FANTASTIC - LEARNED TO SAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMSD HAD IN PAST GETTING FISH READY TO COOK.
THANKS

February 12 2012 at 1:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
arenadood

I use a Rapala filet knife, have for years with a wooden board with a clip on it to hold the tail. Has worked great for me.

February 12 2012 at 10:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dungolf

I have used an electric knife to clean and filet fish for 20 years. It doesn't tear the flesh and all the bones are removed. It is faster than the way it was done in this video.

February 12 2012 at 10:16 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to dungolf's comment
jokesl3

You are correct, I too have used one for over 20 years. It is 5 times as fast and does all the work. When I make my cut to the tail, I leave that part attached, lay that part flat and cut from the tail back to the front. Repeat on the other side. When finished you have two fillets and a fish skelton with two flaps of skin still attached. , I don't even remove the head. Head , bones, guts and skin remain in one piece. He does a lot of work for nothing.

February 19 2012 at 8:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jokesl3

You are correct, I too have used one for over 20 years. It is 5 times as fast and does all the work. When I make my cut to the tail, I leave that part attached, lay that part flat and cut from the tail back to the front. Repeat on the other side. When finished you have two fillets and a fish skelton with two flaps of skin still attached. , I don't even remove the head. Head , bones, guts and skin remain in one piece. He does a lot of work for nothing.

February 19 2012 at 8:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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