How to Fillet a Fish Step by Step?

If you want to fillet a fish, it is best to buy fish that have already been gutted and scaled fresh from the dealer. To fillet a fish, you need a sharp fish knife and bone tongs or wide-headed tweezers.

First, the fish head must be removed with a V-shaped cut: In the first step, position the knife directly behind the gills. Run the knife diagonally forward along under the gills until you encounter the central bone. Then turn the fish to the other side, score the fish head in the same way and separate it completely.

Now cut the fish along the central bone. Start at the head end and cut through to the tail end. Move the knife back and forth with light pressure. The blade is slightly angled and points in the direction of the middle bone. Remove the fillet and turn the fish. Continue filleting by doing the same with the other half. In this step, you completely remove the center bone.

Now cut off the fins, the tail and the fat edge. Below the median bone is the skin of the abdominal flap. Run the knife under it at a flat angle and remove the skin. Do this carefully so that as little of the fish fillet as possible remains on the skin.

Now comes the fine work: Run your fingers over the filleted meat “against the grain”, i.e. against the direction of the fish fibers. This allows you to feel the bones, which you can then pull out with pliers or tweezers.

If you want, you can remove the skin after filleting. Cut them at the tail end and hold them as you cut them down with the knife. Again, steady back and forth motions help while applying light pressure to the skin with the blade.