INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

A very sharp knife [and a whet stone and a sharpening steel nearby] is
essential.  ~1- Skin on Fillets: Begin at the vent [anus] making a cut
on either  side of the anal fin just deep enough to reach the backbone.
make  these cuts all the way back to the tail.  Start the next cut
where the head has been removed on top of the  backbone. Cut through
the fish, from back to belly, lengthways right  down to the tail. You
will run into the belly bones which get tougher  as the fish gets
bigger. Here is where the sharp knife comes in; it  must be able to cut
through the belly bones easily. As you continue  the cut from head to
tail work the knife along the backbone with the  cutting edge slightly
slanted towards the bone.  Remove the first fillet, turn the fish over
and cut the second fillet.  There should be very little meat left on
the backbone.  Now the belly bones can be removed without loosing any
meat. this  leaves you a boneless fillet except for the line of long,
thin bones  just above where the backbone used to be. You can feel
their sharp  ends with your fingertip.  These last bones can be lifted
out in a strip by making a cut on  either side of the row just to the
skin. This final deboning will  somewhat spoil the fillet in appearance
and utility when making  smoked products that are thinly sliced. A more
finicky method is to  remove these bones one at a time with small
needle nose pliers. If  the bones don't pull out of the flesh readily,
you can do it after  smoking.  ~2- Easy Skinless Fillets: [This section
by JW not the author.] Most  smoke recipes call for skin on fillets but
for sauteing, frying,  poaching and grilling fresh fish the easiest way
to get a skinless  fillet with just a little waste is as follows:
Start with whole fish, uncleaned and head on. Make the first cut just
below the gills done to the backbone at a slight angle. Turn the  knife
and cut along the backbone to the tail at a slight angle so as  to
"float" over the belly bones. Stop just short of the tail and peel
back the skin-on fillet without tearing it away from where it is
attached to the fish at the tail. Lay the fillet on the table skin
side down and start a cut at the tail. Cut down to but not through  the
skin and turn the blade sideways. Cut the fillet away from the  skin
and continue back up the fillet to the other end.  Turn over the fish
and repeat. Be careful throughout not to puncture  the intestines,
bladder or stomach. You should now have two skinless  fillets with the
guts still attached to the carcass. This way you do  not have to scale
or clean and you loose only a small amount of meat  and belly skin.
This works best on larger fish say 4 lb and up. -JW  ~3- Defatting Fat
Fish: Salmon and trout are fat fish and you may  want to defat them for
various reasons- to adhere to a low fat diet  or remove contaminants
that may be concentrated in the fat tissues of  fish from certain
waters. To do this, when you fillet, leave plenty  of meat on the
backbone where the meat is especially fat. Cut off the  belly portion.
Skin the fillet leaving about 1/8" meat on the skin.  Make cuts on
either side of the lateral line, lift it out and discard  it.  ~4-
Boning Small Trout:  French Presentation I - Through the back with the
belly uncut. Start  by snipping the fins off with scissors. With a
small knife cut the  gills loose at the throat. With your fingers pull
the gills loose  along with most of the intestines. Make a cut along
one side of the  backbone, working the meat loose from the bone and all
the way to the  belly without cutting the belly skin. Repeat on the
other side. with  scissors snip the backbone as close to the tail as
possible and then  again at the head. Now you can finish cleaning the
belly cavity with  your fingers and the fish with head and tail on is
ready for smoking  or cooking.  French Presentation II- Boning through
the belly. After cleaning,  start by making a cut from the vent, along
each side of the backbone  to the tail. Then work the meat loose from
the rib cage and along the  backbone to but not through the skin of the
back. Then snip off the  backbone close to the tail. Pull the bone free
up to the head and  snip off. Scissor off the fins. Ready for smoking
or cooking.  Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan.
Published by:  Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3
Posted by: Jim  Weller  Posted to MM-Recipes Digest  by "Rfm"
<Robert-Miles@usa.net> on Sep  08, 98

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