Filleting, skinning and de-boning your own fish is easy if you know the right technique. Gordon Ramsay demonstrates how to quickly skin and de-bone a large fillet so it’s safe to cook.
You can see both techniques here in the video above (skip to 3:25), illustrated with a huge filet of salmon. For those who can’t watch, you’ll need to use a long, flexible knife to de-skin the fillet. If you don’t have one, it’ll be a little more difficult so take your time. Start at the tail end of the fillet and make a small cut to get your knife positioned almost horizontally to the skin and fillet so it can slide in between the two. Then use the skin to pull the fillet towards your knife as you move the blade along the bottom of the fillet.
Once you’ve cut about a third of the way in, check to see how close you’re cutting to the skin by gently flipping the fillet and skin over and pulling the skin back. If you’re cutting too much fish away along with the skin, adjust where your knife is, flip the fillet back over, and continue cutting. The last trick with this method is to wrap the fish skin around your fingers as you go to increase your grip and make it easier to pull the skin out and towards the knife as you cut.
Once you’ve removed the skin, run your knife down the side of the fillet to raise the heads of the bones still in the fillet. Use tweezers to pluck the pin bones from the fillet.
How to Master 5 Basic Cooking Skills | Gordon Ramsay (YouTube)