Filleting a Fish

There has been some discussion about filleting fish. Thrown off carelessly. As though we all know how to do this.

I was not much of a fillet-er pre-Le Cordon Bleu. Mainly because I didn’t know. To help everyone get aligned with my newly acquired skill – here is a step-by-step.

Today's specimen: Sea Bream (daurade).


Snip off all the fins.


Make a small incision in the belly. Rip out the guts.

Scale (de-scale) using a scaler (de-scaler). Scraping from tail to head. The opposite direction they lie to pluck off

Cut around the head on both sides.

Make a small slice down the back bone on each side. This will serve as a guide when cutting the fillets.

Using a fillet knife, cut the fillet away from the skeleton. Gently pulling back as you cut. Keep the knife horizontal to the skeleton as you cut.

Take out the gills before using the head for the fumet – fish stock.

Pull out all the bones with fish-bone tweezers. Careful not to take too much of the flesh. Here is where you would skin the fillets if you wanted to.

When using the carcass for a fumet be sure to rinse them thoroughly. Until the water runs clear and all the blood has drained from the bones