02-05-2007, 04:43 PM
This is the first chance I've had to try this out since I posted it a few weeks ago. Ended up with a couple of larger trout this weekend and decided to try out these techniques.
I don't have an electric knife and maybe that would have made a difference,not sure, but I have a question on the electric knife thing anyway:
I once had a fisherman tell me to never cut into the "guts" while filleting fish, as the internal body organ fluids get on the knife blade and could contaminate the meat. Hence, I was hesitant to cut off each slab completely, (as per TubeDudes instructions...) and that is another reason I massacred my two attempts this weekend.
First lesson I learned: Frozen trout DO NOT fillet well. I couldn't tell whether I was cutting through flesh or bone. later found out I was cutting through the bone. So I guess rule #1 should be: Make sure the fish is NOT frozen.
So anyway, here is how I did it. (Tubedude, this differs slightly from your instructions, based on my fear of cutting into the guts above...if you wouldn't mind posting your opinion on "contaminating" the meat? Maybe I'm just being anal about this.
1. I did cut just past the gills down to the backbone. Easy.
2. Starting at the top of the back, I cut down parallel to the backbone until I hit the ribcage. So far so good.
3. My fillet knife would not stay above the ribs, it kept cutting into them and would cut through them. (One of many problems) It is very sharp and I sharpen it very often and if you were to look under a magnifying glass, it is almost serrated...maybe that is the problem.
4. Laying the fillets down and cutting the meat off the skin went pretty well.
5. Once I did get the fillets off (and they were ugly) I could not pull the side bones (adipose?) out with pliers, each bone pulled out would take a chunk of meat with it. I ended up cutting the strips out.
In the end, from 2 fish, I ended up with about 10 fillet pieces, and most have at least a few bones in them. We are going to cook them tonight so I'll let you all know how it turned out.
I might just stick to filleting only the warm water species...or maybe I just need to follow the instructions better.
Randy
[signature]
I don't have an electric knife and maybe that would have made a difference,not sure, but I have a question on the electric knife thing anyway:
I once had a fisherman tell me to never cut into the "guts" while filleting fish, as the internal body organ fluids get on the knife blade and could contaminate the meat. Hence, I was hesitant to cut off each slab completely, (as per TubeDudes instructions...) and that is another reason I massacred my two attempts this weekend.
First lesson I learned: Frozen trout DO NOT fillet well. I couldn't tell whether I was cutting through flesh or bone. later found out I was cutting through the bone. So I guess rule #1 should be: Make sure the fish is NOT frozen.
So anyway, here is how I did it. (Tubedude, this differs slightly from your instructions, based on my fear of cutting into the guts above...if you wouldn't mind posting your opinion on "contaminating" the meat? Maybe I'm just being anal about this.
1. I did cut just past the gills down to the backbone. Easy.
2. Starting at the top of the back, I cut down parallel to the backbone until I hit the ribcage. So far so good.
3. My fillet knife would not stay above the ribs, it kept cutting into them and would cut through them. (One of many problems) It is very sharp and I sharpen it very often and if you were to look under a magnifying glass, it is almost serrated...maybe that is the problem.
4. Laying the fillets down and cutting the meat off the skin went pretty well.
5. Once I did get the fillets off (and they were ugly) I could not pull the side bones (adipose?) out with pliers, each bone pulled out would take a chunk of meat with it. I ended up cutting the strips out.
In the end, from 2 fish, I ended up with about 10 fillet pieces, and most have at least a few bones in them. We are going to cook them tonight so I'll let you all know how it turned out.
I might just stick to filleting only the warm water species...or maybe I just need to follow the instructions better.
Randy
[signature]
I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.