This tutorial is continued from page 3.
Now the flesh has been cleared down to the spine and it is time to clear over the backbone. At this point you just want to make small cuts from the bottom of the ribcage down to the tail that just clear the fillet off the spine itself.
Hold the fillet up and slide the knife down over the top of the backbone with a downward angle as shown. Make a few smaller nicks as needed to ensure you clear the backbone cleanly.
Once the backbone has been fully exposed place the knife back in at the base of the ribs as shown.
Slide the knife down along the backbone pressing down on the bones to pick up all the flesh on the fillet. The angle of the knife is very important here, too much and you will cut into the bones and get stuck, too little and you will leave meat on the bones. Take your time and concentrate on doing a neat job.
Cut down and out, following the bones and clearing the fillet down to the anal fin.
Place the knife back in at the base of the ribs and clear the remainder of the fillet from the anus down to the tail.
You should now have the fillet cleared away from the bones leaving only the ribs and belly attached.
Now it is time to cut over the ribcage. Again you need to ensure the fillet is fully cleared away at the head so you can lift the fillet up and see what you are doing.
Begin by making a shallow cut along the top of the ribs cutting up towards the head. This will expose the ribs. This cut may begin to clear a few pinbones.
Note the shallow cut that exposed the top of the ribs which are intact, you never want to cut through the ribs (only the pinbones).
Position the knife as shown and prepare to make a quick flicking motion up into the head to clear away the pinbones at the top of the ribcage.
Flick sharply up into the head, sliding the tip of the knife along the top of the ribs and cutting through the pinbones. Remember to hold the fillet firmly with your left hand. The result should look like the picture below.
Now turn the knife around ready to cut down towards the belly and place it on top of the exposed ribs as shown.
Press down on the ribs and cut through any pinbones that remain. Slide the knife over the ribs and follow their curve as you cut down towards the belly of the fish.
Continue to slide down, following the curve of the ribcage.
Raise the fillet up as you continue to clear the fillet off the ribcage.
At this point the fillet should be almost cleared away. When you reach this point you can push the knife through and lay the fillet down over the top of your knife hand then clear the fillet with one final swipe.
Ready for the last cut to clear the fillet.
One swipe out and the fillet is completely removed.
Congratulations! You should now have two neat fillets with nothing left on the bones.
We hope you found this tutorial useful and picked up some tips on how to fillet a fish. Remember this basic filleting style works on many different species of fish. We suggest that you now watch a professional filleter explain this technique in a step by step video tutorial.
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