• Equipment -
• Cleaning & Filleting Round Bodied Fish -
• Cleaning & Filleting Deep Bodied (flat) Fish -
• Preparing a Fish for Stuffing -
• Links -

Naturally you need the right tools to do the job efficiently. Shown are the essentials, but also nice to have are a long straight turkey slicing knife for skinning wide fillets and large long nose pliers for pulling out the backbone if you're going to stuff a fish (see below).

• Kitchen Shears to cut through bones and other tough stuff.
• Filleting Knife with blade at least 6 inches long, razor sharp and very flexible. A razor sharp boning knife is second best.
• Knife - your standard cutting and chopping knife for the more brutal cuts, will also serve for skinning fillets.
• Sharpening Stone to keep your knives razor sharp.
• Needle Nose Pliers for pulling out small bones.

Important: when filleting fish you need to have your sharpening stone ready and know how to use it. Fish fillet knives get dull quickly because their razor edge is scraping along hard bones. If you find any reluctance slicing through skin, sharpen.

First scale the fish (not all fish have scales, but all kosher ones have at least some). A fish scaling tool (concentric toothed rings) is nice, but for a few fish the back of your kitchen knife will do fine. This is the messy part as scales will be flying about, so you might want to do the scaling outdoors. If you are going to filet the fish you can cut off the fins, but they're easy to work around if you'll be cooking the fish whole.

NOTE: Some instructions have you fillet the fish at this point, and it can be a little easier, but most of you will be buying your fish already scaled and cleaned so we'll use a procedure that works both ways.

Next make a cut from the vent forward into the jaw. Make the cut shallow from the inside out because you don't want to cut into the innards. When you get to the bottom fins you'll meet resistance. Use you kitchen shears from that point forward.

Now reach up into the fish and warp your fingers around the innards and pull them down and out. For many fish they will all pull out easily but for others you will need to use your kitchen shears to cut the esophagus. Scrape out anything left inside and break through the swim bladder (if present) so you can see the backbone. Note: for a female fish with a load of eggs there will also be a yellow or orange mass nearly as large as the rest of the innards.

Next, unless you intend to simply discard the whole head, open the gill slots and pull out the gills. for some fish these are soft and pull out easily but for many you will have to cut them lose at the top and bottom ends with your kitchen shears. For most fish you can remove the gills through the gill slots but for some it's easier to go in through the gill slots and push them out through the bottom cavity.

Snip the bottom fins off from behind the head. Make a cut across the tail just before the flesh stops. Make two cuts at the head, one pointed forward and tilted inward at the top to get the maximum flesh, and one down from that as close to the gill flaps as you can, how close that is will depend on the type of fish.

NOTE: at this point I diverge significantly from most instructions on how to fillet fish which make a single cut from head to tail, knife crosswise to the fish, but this procedure works well for me on many different kinds of fish and results in very little flesh left on the bones.

• Make a cut from the top to the backbone moving from head to tail. have the blade following against the fin rays until it can pick up the main bones and follow them to the backbone.
• Make sure the head end of the filet is completely free from the head.
• Make a second cut from the bottom to the backbone starting at the tail and going forward to the body cavity. Again follow the fin rays until you can pick up the main bones.
• Now cut from the tail the last little bit holding the filet to the backbone all the way up to the rib cage peeling up the filet as you cut.
• Next, holding the filet up so you can see what you're doing, carefully follow the ribs with the blade. When you're getting close to the end of the ribs, hook a finger around to hold up the skirt or you'll cut it off at the end of the ribs (or, if you're afraid you'll get your finger, stuff a rag under to hold it up. This is a good argument for filleting before cleaning (see above)). Another method (necessary with some fish) is, before you get to the end of the ribs, cut them from the spine with your kitchen shears, then pull the bones out of the fillet with your long nose pliers. This guarantees you won't accidently cut off the skirt. Of course, for some fish there isn't enough meat on the skirt to bother with.

Now you have a fillet separated from the fish and are ready to do the same for the other side.When done, check both filets for bones that might have come off with them (you can feel them even if you can't see them) and pull them out with the long nose pliers. For a good filleting fish properly done there should be none, but some fish don't fillet clear of bones.

In many cases, especially with mild flavored fish, you'll want to skin the fillets. With some fish you can practically just pull the skin off, but for others the skin is both delicate and adheres well making removal much more difficult. Skinning filets from fish like that takes a little practice, but is certainly doable.

Start skin side down from the tail end and at the edge of your cutting board. Pull or cut away enough flesh to get a knife under it. Holding the skin tightly to the board and keeping the sharp edge of the blade turned just a little downward toward the skin, run the knife forward using just a tiny bit of sawing motion if you need to. Don't turn the blade too far down or you'll cut through the skin, or at all up or you'll be taking flesh with the skin. I find the long straight cutting edge of my turkey slicing knife works very well here.

First scale the fish (not all fish have scales, but all kosher ones have at least some). A fish scaling tool (concentric toothed rings) is nice, but for a few fish the back of your kitchen knife will do fine. The scales on this Golden Pompono are so tiny and thin they scrape off as a gray slush rather than spattering about but other fish are messy, so you might want to do the scaling outdoors. If you are going to filet the fish you can cut off the fins, but they're easy to work around if you'll be cooking the fish whole.

NOTE: Some instructions have you filet the fish at this point, and it can be a little easier, but most of you will be buying your fish already scaled and cleaned so we'll use a procedure that works both ways.

Some flat fish have fins just about all along the bottom, so instead of cutting from the bottom you cut in from one side just as if starting to take a fillet.Make the cut shallow because you don't want to cut into the innards.

Now reach up into the fish and warp your fingers around the innards and pull them down and out. For many fish they will all pull out easily but for some you will need to use your kitchen shears to cut the esophagus. Scrape out anything left inside and break through the swim bladder (if present) so you can see the backbone. Note: for a female fish with a load of eggs there will also be a yellow or orange mass nearly as large as the rest of the innards.

Next, unless you intend to simply discard the whole head, open the gill slots and pull out the gills. for some fish these are soft and pull out easily, but for many you will have to cut them lose at the top and bottom ends with your kitchen shears. For most fish you can remove the gills through the gill slots but for others it's easier to go in through the gill slots and push them out throught the bottom cavity.

Make a cut across the tail just before the flesh stops. Make two cuts at the head, one pointed forward and tilted inward at the top to get the maximum flesh, and one down from that as close to the gill flaps as you can, how close that is will depend on the type of fish.

NOTE: at this point I diverge significantly from most instructions on how to fillet fish which make a single cut from head to tail, knife crosswise to the fish, but this procedure works well for me on many different kinds of fish and leaves very little flesh left on the bones.

• Make a cut from the top to the backbone moving from head to tail. have the blade following against the fin rays until it can pick up the main bones and follow them to the backbone.
• Make sure the head end of the filet is completely free from the head.
• Make a second cut from the bottom to the backbone starting at the tail and going forward to the body cavity. Again follow the fin rays until you can pick up the main bones.
• Now cut from the tail the last little bit holding the filet to the backbone all the way up to the rib cage peeling up the filet as you cut.
• Next, holding the filet up so you can see what you're doing, carefully follow the ribs with the blade. When you're getting close to the end of the ribs, hook a finger around to hold up the skirt or you'll cut it off at the end of the ribs (or, if you're afraid you'll get your finger, stuff a rag under to hold it up. This is a good argument for filleting before cleaning (see above)). Another method (necessary with some fish) is, before you get to the end of the ribs, cut them from the backbone with your kitchen shears, then pull the bones out of the fillet with your long nose pliers. This guarantees you won't accidently cut off the skirt. Of course some fish have so little meat in the skirt it's not worth bothering with.

Now you have a fillet separated from the fish and are ready to do the same for the other side.When done, check both filets for bones that might have come off with them (you can feel them even if you can't see them) and pull them out with the the nose pliers. For a good filleting fish properly done there should be none, but some fish don't fillet clear of bones.

In many cases, especially with mild flavored fish, you'll want to skin the fillets. With some fish you can practically just pull the skin off, but for others the skin is both delicate and adheres well making removal much more difficult. Skinning filets from fish like that takes a little practice, but is certainly doable.

Start skin side down from the tail end and at the edge of your cutting board. Pull or cut away enough flesh to get a knife under it. Holding the skin tightly to the board and keeping the sharp edge of the blade turned just a little downward toward the skin, run the knife forward using just a tiny bit of sawing motion if you need to. Don't turn the blade too far down or you'll cut through the skin, or at all up or you'll be taking flesh with the skin. I find the long straight cutting edge of my turkey slicing knife works very well here.

Explore the cavity with your fingers to find any remaining bones and remove them with long nose pliers. There's a lot more on this in our recipe Stuffed Baked Mackerel which has a pictorial instruction section at the bottom.