How to Fillet a Fish
A filleted fish has its skin and bones removed before cooking. Scaling isn't necessary. The New West KnifeWorks Fillet Knife has a long, thin, blade that's very sharp and specifically designed for filleting fish. Our fillet knives are SUPER sharp and should be handled with care.
Use extra precaution when removing or replacing the knife in it's sheath.
Follow the instructions below to learn how to fillet a fish set by step. These instructions assume the fish has already been field gutted and cleaned.
Lay the fish on the cutting board or some type of flat, hard surface. Grasp the fish by its mouth and place the knife’s blade behind the fish’s gills and cut inward and downward towards the head until the blade reaches the backbone. Be careful not to cut into the backbone.
Turn the knife 90 degrees towards the tail and glide the blade along the backbone. Make sure your blade stays on top of the back and belly fins and cut through the fish’s rib cage. Try to avoid cutting into the backbone so it’s better to cut too shallow into the fish rather than too deep. Continue to cut through the body towards the tail and then exit the blade at the base of the tail.
With the fillet still attached to the tail, flip it away from the fish and position the knife on the thin portion of the fillet. Hold the fish and slice between the meat and skin to remove the fillet. Run the blade at a shallow angle to avoid slicing through the skin and making sure to cut as close to the skin as you can to get the most meat for the fillet.
Move the fish away from the fillet to work on removing the ribs from the fillet. Position the tip of your knife at the top of the rib cage and cut downward along the rib cage all the way to the bottom of the fillet. Angling your knife and slicing close to the ribs guarantees you will retain the most meat on your fillet. Then carefully remove the rib cage from the fillet.
Set the fillet aside in some type of a bowl, turn over the fish and repeat steps 1 through 4.
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