Preparing fish is easy, however, if you don’t feel up to the task of filleting or skinning fish we at Quinlan’s Fish shops will be glad to help.

Whole Fish

To prepare whole fish – say salmon or trout for cooking it is important to snip out the gills using kitchen scissors. Check that no blood remains along the backbone.

Skinning Fish

Place the fillets on a board with the tail towards you, flesh side up. Using a sharp, flat-bladed – not serrated knife make a small nick backwards through the flesh but not through the skin. This gives you something to grip. Change the direction of the knife and keep both knife and skin flat on the board towards the top of the fillet using a saw-like motion. The skin should come away in one piece.

Removing Bones

To remove the bones from round white fish fillets simply cut the ‘V’ shaped piece containing the bones from the top of the fillet.

Use a tweezers to remove pin bones from salmon and trout.

How to skin a fillet

Step one

Place the fillets on a board with the tail towards you, flesh side up. Using a sharp, flat bladed – not serrated knife make a small nick backwards through the flesh but not through the skin. This gives you something to grip.

Step two

Change the direction of the knife and keep both knife and skin flat on the board . Work towards the top of the fillet using a saw-like motion. The skin should come away in one piece.

Step three

To remove the bones from round white fish fillets simply cut the ‘V’ shaped piece containing the bones from the top of the fillet.

Courtesy of © Bord Bia